THE High Court on Thursday granted the petition of Liberal Party (LP) to stop the poll body from approving the merger of the Nacionalista Party (NP) and Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).
Like LP, the NP-NPC is also seeking to be declared as the dominant opposition minority party.
With this development, Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez told Sun.Star that the en banc is set to release a resolution declaring the dominant majority and minority party status to the respective political parties.
“It looks like the Liberal Party (LP) will get the dominant minority party status after the NP-NPC coalition was nullified,” Jimenez said.
With the dominant minority status, LP will get the sixth copy of election returns and its own server where election data from Comelec will be transmitted.
The dominant minority party status is given to the party with the longest public services record and which has the sufficient organizational strength to launch a nationwide campaign.
Administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD meanwhile is set to be declared as the dominant majority party.
Grave abuse
In a unanimous decision penned by Associate Justice Arturo Brion, the Court en banc said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion in disregarding its own Resolution No. 8752 setting on February 12, 2010 the deadline for the filing of petitions for accreditation for determination of the dominant majority party, dominant minority party, 10 major national parties, and two major local parties for the May 10 elections.
The Supreme Court (SC) held the Comelec exempted the NP-NPC from its own rules and allowed the merger despite that its petition for accreditation as coalition and dominant minority was filed way beyond the deadline imposed by the poll body through Resolution 8646, which set the deadline for the filing of petitions for registration of political parties on August 17, 2009.
“Given the mandatory nature of the deadline, subject only to a systematic change…, the en banc acted in excess of its jurisdiction when it granted the registration of NP-NPC as a coalition beyond the deadline the Comelec itself had set; the authority to register political parties under mandatory terms is only up to the deadline. Effectively, the mandatory deadline is a jurisdictional matter that should have been satisfied and was not,” it ruled.
The SC decision is immediately executory, with just three days before the May 10 elections.
NP party head and presidential candidate Manny Villar had sought to be allied with the NPC, the political party founded by businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.
But the two parties filed their petition for registration as a coalition and accreditation as the dominant minority party only on February 12, 2010.
The application of NP-NPC as dominant minority party went against a similar bid of LP, which had held such distinction since the 2007 midterm elections. LP submitted its petition also on February 12, 2010.
The two prominent parties are head-to-head in the race for the top two government positions.
The SC noted that Comelec, in the past, rejected similar applications for registration for having been filed out of time like in the case of the Philippine Guardians Brotherhood, Inc.
“We are sure that all these other organizations would no doubt cry foul – and rightly so – because of the denial of their applications on the ground of late filing, when the NP-NPC has been made an exception without rhyme or reason,” the Court said.
It branded Comelec’s position as “preposterous”, considering the importance of the participation of political parties in the election process and the rigid schedules that have to be observed in line with the implementation of the poll automation system.
Likewise, the Court said, it is puzzled why the Comelec would impose a deadline applicable only to political parties but not to political organizations and coalitions.
“In our view, this kind of ruling was patently unreasonable, made as it was without basis in law, in fact or in reason; and was a grave abuse of discretion that fatally afflicted the assailed Comelec resolutions.”
Status quo ante order
During its session in Baguio City last April 20, the high court issued a status quo ante order for the Comelec, effectively stopping the implementation of the poll body’s approval of the NPC-NP merger as a “dominant minority party” that is entitled to election returns.
In its petition, LP said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when it approved the “bogus” merger formed solely to rob from them the recognition as the “dominant minority party,” which it held during the 2007 senatorial elections.
“The NP-NPC was never formally, and much less, genuinely organized by the NPC. It was but a mere piece of paper purposely designed to emasculate the chances of other registered political parties who rely on their own truthful qualifications in their application for the dominant minority party status,” LP said.
LP lawyers said despite glaring evidence that the coalition was unauthorized, the Comelec, nonetheless, granted the petition for registration of the NP-NPC Coalition, explaining that since no written opposition was filed by any NPC member to the supposed coalition, the NPC membership has purportedly accepted the same.
With the May 10 elections just a few weeks away, the LP said it is necessary for the high court to step into the matter so as to guide the Comelec en banc in ruling on applications for recognition as the dominant minority party. (JCV/With Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)