G.R. No. 206719 - Bagumbayan-VNP Movement, Inc. vs. Commission on Elections

G.R. No. 206719 – Bagumbayan-VNP Movement, Inc. and Senator Richard J. Gordon filed a Special Civil Action for Mandamus under Sec. 3, Rule 65, Rules of Court, to compel COMELEC to comply with Sec. 14 of RA 8436 (as amended by RA 9369) by making the AES source code available for review.
G.R. No. 206784 – Tanggulang Demokrasya, Inc. and allied citizens filed a Special Civil Action for Mandamus under Sec. 3, Rule 65, to compel COMELEC to (a) use digital signatures in electronic election returns, and (b) provide security safeguards (source code review, vote verification, random audit) as required by RA 9369.
G.R. No. 207755 – A Verified Petition for Indirect Contempt against former COMELEC Chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr., alleging he reneged on commitments made during the May 8, 2013 oral arguments in G.R. No. 206719 regarding source code availability.

Bagumbayan-VNP Movement, Inc. (registered national political party) and Senator Richard J. Gordon.
Tanggulang Demokrasya (people’s organization) and Evelyn Kilayko, Teresita Baltazar, Pilar Calderon, Elita Montilla, Andrea Cedo (registered voters and taxpayers).

RA 8436 (1997) authorized AES; RA 9369 (2007) added Sec. 14 requiring COMELEC to open AES source code for review by any interested political party, candidate or citizen’s arm.
COMELEC issued guidelines for source code review:

Minute Resolution No. 10-0138 (Feb 10, 2010) for the 2010 elections.
Resolution No. 9651 (Mar 1, 2013) and Resolution No. 9657 (Mar 14, 2013) for the 2013 elections, prescribing qualifications, documentary requirements, and an April 1 deadline.

Select parties (PDP-Laban, PMP, PPCRV, Liberal Party) conducted review of CCS and EMS code from April 10–24, 2013; PCOS code release delayed by a contract dispute until May 5, 2013.
Petitioners filed their mandamus on May 3, 2013; oral arguments were held on May 8, 2013. During argument, Chairman Brillantes announced COMELEC had obtained the PCOS source code, would deposit it in BSP escrow, and would open review post-election, subject to revised rules.
COMELEC and BSP executed an escrow agreement; a preliminary conference was held; petitioners failed to attend. On May 23, 2013, COMELEC invited Bagumbayan-VNP and Gordon to participate after elections upon submission of credentials.
Petitioners filed memoranda on May 28, 2013; Tan Dem, et al. also sought mandamus to restore digital signatures and other safeguards, or postpone elections, and to manually count ballots if safeguards were absent.
Petitioner Gordon, et al. filed the contempt petition (G.R. No. 207755) on July 9, 2013, alleging Chairman Brillantes failed to honor his commitments to open the source code and extend qualification deadlines.

Do the petitioners have locus standi to file the petitions?
Are petitioners entitled to a Writ of Mandamus compelling COMELEC to open up the source code review immediately for their benefit?
Are petitioners entitled to a Writ of Mandamus to compel COMELEC to:

Is former Chairman Brillantes guilty of indirect contempt for allegedly reneging on his in-court commitments?