Case Digest (G.R. No. 257610)
Facts:
Glenn Quintos Albano v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 257610 (consolidated with UDK No. 17230), January 24, 2023, Supreme Court En Banc, Lopez, J., writing for the Court.Petitioners are Glenn Quintos Albano (Albano) and Catalina G. Leonen‑Pizarro (Pizarro). Albano was named second nominee of the Talino at Galing ng Pinoy Party‑List (TGP) for the May 9, 2022 elections; he had unsuccessfully run for Taguig city councilor in 2019. Pizarro was the first nominee of Arts Business and Science Professionals (ABS), a party she founded and previously represented in the House from 2007–2016; she had unsuccessfully run for mayor of Sudipen, La Union in 2016 and 2019.
Both nominations were barred under the same statutory proviso: Section 8 of Republic Act No. 7941 (the Party‑List System Act) forbids a party’s submitted nominee list from including “any candidate for any elective office or a person who has lost his bid for elective office in the immediately preceding election.” The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) reproduced that restriction in COMELEC Resolution No. 10717, specifically in Sections 5(d) and 10, which likewise disallowed nominees who “have lost in their bid for an elective office in the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections.”
Albano and Pizarro separately filed petitions for certiorari and prohibition (Rule 65) directly with the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of Section 8 of R.A. No. 7941 and the matching provisions of COMELEC Resolution No. 10717. Because the issues and facts were identical, the petitions were consolidated by the...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- May Congress prescribe additional qualifications for party‑list representatives beyond those in Section 6, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution?
- Do Section 8 of R.A. No. 7941 and Sections 5(d) and 10 of COMELEC Resolution No. 10717 violate the Equal Protection Clause by barring persons who lost in the immediately preceding election from...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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