(Cibac) v. Commission On Elections Garcia

JR., J.:

The Case Before us is a Petition for Certiorari1 under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court assailing the March 7, 2006 Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Resolution No. 06-0248,2 which rejected the Motion for Proclamation of the Second Nominees of Citizens' Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC), et al. under the party-list system in connection with the May 2004 National and Local Elections. The Facts The COMELEC, sitting en banc as the National Board of Canvassers for the Party-List System, issued Resolution No. NBC 04-0043 promulgated on June 2, 2004, which proclaimed petitioner CIBAC as one of those which qualified to occupy a seat in Congress having received the required two percent (2%) of the total votes cast for the party-list representatives. Based on Party-List Canvass Report No. 19,4 CIBAC received a total number of 493,546 votes out of the 12,627,852 votes cast for all the party-list participants, which, by applying the formula adopted by the Supreme Court in Veterans Federation Party v. COMELEC,5 resulted in a percentage of 3.9084.6 In the computation for additional seats for the parties, the COMELEC adopted a simplified formula of one additional seat per additional 2%, thereby foreclosing the chances of CIBAC to gain an additional seat under the party-list system for having received less than what was prescribed by the poll body.7 On June 22, 2004, petitioner CIBAC, together with Luzon Farmers Party (BUTIL) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), filed a Joint Motion for Immediate Proclamation8 entreating the COMELEC en banc to recognize their entitlement to an additional seat and that their second nominees be immediately proclaimed.

They based their claim on Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party v. COMELEC (Ang Bagong Bayani and Bayan Muna), applying the following Veterans formula: Additional Seats = Votes Cast for Qualified Party