Case Summary (G.R. No. 188456)
Petitioner's Claims and Procedural Posture before the Supreme Court
Aggabao’s principal contention was that the COMELEC En Banc acted with grave abuse of discretion and without jurisdiction in directing Miranda’s proclamation while the appeal he had pending before the COMELEC Second Division had not been resolved. He also argued that, even assuming PBC jurisdiction, excluding the contested COCVs was erroneous because those documents appeared regular and properly authenticated. Aggabao sought annulment of Resolution No. 7233 and the proclamation. Miranda moved to dismiss the petition, asserting that the appropriate forum for resolving electoral contests involving a Member of the House is the House Electoral Tribunal (HRET).
Legal Standard for Certiorari Applied by the Court
The Court reiterated the requisites for certiorari: (a) the tribunal, board, or officer exercising judicial functions must have acted without or in excess of jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction; and (b) there must be no appeal or any plain, speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law to annul or modify the proceeding. The Court emphasized that certiorari requires a showing of capricious, arbitrary, and whimsical exercise of power.
Constitutional Provision Governing Electoral Contests for Members of Congress
The Court relied on Article VI, Section 17 of the 1987 Constitution, which vests the Senate and the House of Representatives with their respective Electoral Tribunals as the sole judges of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of their Members. The constitutional scheme thereby assigns exclusive jurisdiction over post‑proclamation contests involving Members of the House to the HRET.
Controlling Precedents and Their Principles
The decision invoked Pangilinan v. COMELEC to underscore that, under the 1987 Constitution, the HRET is the exclusive forum for contesting the election, returns, and qualifications of House Members, and that COMELEC has been divested of jurisdiction over pre‑proclamation controversies involving Members of the House and Senate. Guerrero and Lazatin were cited for the principle that once a winning candidate has been proclaimed, taken the oath, and assumed office, COMELEC’s jurisdiction over related election contests ends and the HRET’s jurisdiction begins. Garcia was cited concerning the requisites for certiorari and the availability of adequate remedies.
Court’s Analysis of Jurisdiction and Adequacy of Remedies
The Court found it undisputed that Miranda had been proclaimed, had taken his oath, and had assumed office as Congressman. Given those facts, the Court reasoned that Aggabao’s remedy was to file an electoral protest with the HRET, not a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court attacking COMELEC’s proclamation. The Court underscored that even if the proclamation were alleged to be null and void ab initio, that allegation did not divest the HRET of jurisdiction; rather, the validity of a proclamation after a candidate has assumed office is properly raised and decided by the HRET. Allowing certiorari in such circumstances would produce duplicative proceedings and a clash of jurisdiction between constitutional bodies.
Application of Law to the Present Case and Holding
App
...continue readingCase Syllabus (G.R. No. 188456)
Parties
- Petitioner: Georgidi B. Aggabao, a candidate for Congressman for the 4th District of Isabela in the May 10, 2004 elections.
- Private respondent: Anthony Miranda, rival congressional candidate for the 4th District of Isabela, later proclaimed as Congressman.
- Respondent: Commission on Elections (COMELEC), including the COMELEC En Banc.
- Respondent: The Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBC) of Isabela.
- Presiding Justice/Author of Decision: Justice Ynares-Santiago.
- Voting members listed as concurring: Davide, Jr., C.J., Puno, Panganiban, Quisumbing, Sandoval-Gutierrez, Carpio, Austria-Martinez, Corona, Carpio-Morales, Azcuna, Tinga, Chico-Nazario, and Garcia, JJ. Callejo, Sr., J. on official leave.
Case Citation and Procedural Identity
- Reported at 490 Phil. 285.
- G.R. No. 163756.
- Decision date: January 26, 2005.
- The petition was docketed as SPC No. 04-219 and raffled to the COMELEC Second Division (as noted in the record).
- The instant matter is a Petition for Certiorari seeking to annul and set aside COMELEC En Banc Resolution No. 7233 and the proclamation of Anthony Miranda as Congressman for the 4th District of Isabela.
Factual Background
- The contested elections were for Congressman, 4th District of Isabela, held on May 10, 2004.
- During canvassing of the certificates of canvass of votes (COCV) for the municipalities of Cordon and San Agustin, Anthony Miranda moved for exclusion of the 1st copy of the COCV.
- Grounds asserted by Miranda for exclusion: the 1st copy of the COCV was tampered with; prepared under duress; differed from other authentic copies; and contained manifest errors.
- Petitioner Aggabao objected to Miranda's motion, arguing that grounds raised were proper only for a pre-proclamation controversy, which, he asserted, is not allowed in elections for Members of the House of Representatives.
- On May 22, 2004, the reconstituted Provincial Board of Canvassers excluded from canvass the contested COCVs and used instead the 4th and 7th copies of the COCVs.
- Based on those canvass results, Miranda garnered the highest number of votes for Congressman.
Proceedings Before the COMELEC and Filings
- Aggabao appealed the PBC action to the COMELEC, asserting the PBC acted without jurisdiction when it heard Miranda’s Petition for Exclusion; alternatively, he argued that even if the PBC had jurisdiction, it erred in excluding the contested COCVs because they appeared regular and properly authenticated.
- On June 6, 2004, Miranda filed a Very Urgent Motion for Proclamation.
- Petitioner opposed Miranda’s motion, contending that the pendency of Aggabao’s appeal with the COMELEC Second Division barred Miranda’s proclamation.
- In a Memorandum dated June 8, 2004, Commissioner Mehol K. Sadain, commissioner in-charge for Regions II and III, approved the proclamation of the remaining winning candidates for the province of Isabela.
- On June 9, 2004, the COMELEC En Banc issued Resolution No. 7233 directing the proclamation of the remaining winning candidates in Isabela.
- On the same day (June 9), Aggabao filed with COMELEC an Urgent Motion to Set Aside the Notice of Proclamation with Prayer for the Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order.
- On June 14, 2004, Anthony Miranda was proclaimed as the duly elected Congressman for the 4th District of Isabela.
- Two days after the proclamation (June 16, 2004), Aggabao filed the present petition assailing Resolution No. 7233, claiming the COMELEC En Banc acted without jurisdiction in ordering Miranda’s proclamation because the Second Division had not yet resolved the appeal.
- In his Comment, Miranda moved for dismissal of the petition, arguing that the issue raised by Aggabao was best addressed to the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).
- On August 27, 2004, Aggabao filed a Consolidated Motion for Early Resolution; a Manifestation that the COMELEC Second Division issued a resolution sustaining the petitioner’s appeal; and a Reply to the Comment.
- Aggabao manifested that on August 16, 2004, the COMELEC Second Division gave due course to his pending appeal and complained of the failure of the COMELEC Second Division to annul the proclamation.
Core Legal Issue Presented
- Whether the Supreme Court can take cognizance of the Petition for Certiorari filed by Aggabao challenging COMELEC En Banc Resolution No. 7233 and Miranda’s proclamation.
- Underlying: whether certiorari li