Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy vs COMELEC

Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) vs. COMELEC September 1! "1#  $. %ere& %ere& Carlos %a'dan'anan  opic  opic *e Le'islativ Le'islative e Department + *e *e ,o-se of epresen epresentatives tatives + *e %artylist %artylist epresen epresentatives tatives /ACS 0 COMELEC COMELEC En En anc anc iss-e iss-ed d a resol resol-tio -tion n on Nov 2! 2! "1"! "1"! cance cancellin llin' ' ANAD3s ANAD3s Certi4c Certi4cate ate of e'istration and5or Accreditation on t*ree 'ro-nds (a) ANAD did not belon' belon' to mar'inali&ed mar'inali&ed and -nderrepr -nderrepresented esented sectors en-merated en-merated in A 2671 2671 (b) ANAD failed to comply 8it* proced-ral proced-ral re9-iremen re9-irements ts in Sec. 7! -le # of eso 6#::. *ey only s-bmitted # nominees; < nominees 8ere re9-ired. No proof s*o8in' t*at nominees Art*-r  ariman  ariman and $-li-s Labandria Labandria are are act-ally nominated nominated by ANAD ANAD itself! beca-se beca-se t*eir names names 8eren3t fo-nd in t*e Cert. of Nomination s-bmitted by ANAD. (c) ANAD failed to s-bmit its Statement Statement of Contrib-tion Contrib-tions s and E=penses E=penses for t*e "2 "2 Elections as re9-ired by A 21::. 0 ANAD 8ent 8ent to t*e SC and c*all c*allen' en'ed ed said resol-t resol-tion. ion. >n >n t*e case case of Aton' Aton' %a'la %a'la-m -m vs COMEL COMELEC! EC! t*e SC remanded t*e case to t*e COMELEC for re0eval-ation in accordance 8it* t*e parameters set in t*at case. 0 COMELEC COMELEC a?rme a?rmed d t*e cancell cancellatio ation n and dis9dis9-ali4 ali4ed ed ANAD fro from m participa participatin' tin' in t*e t*e "1# "1# Elections Elections..  @es!  @es! ANAD may be considered considered as a sectoral sectoral party lacin' lacin' in 8ell0de4ned 8ell0de4ned constit-encies! constit-encies! b-t it it is still dis9-ali4ed for 'ro-nds  and C above. >SSBE ON t*e COMELEC 'ravely ab-sed its discretion in cancellin' ANAD3s certi4cate. NO. Dispositive Dispositive + ,EE/OE! ,EE/OE! premises considered! t*e Co-rt esolves to D>SM>SS t*e %etition! %etition! 4ndin' no 'rave ab-se of discretion on t*e part of t*e Commission on Elections. A>O ANAD3s claim COMELEC s*o-ld *ave called for anot*er s-mmary *earin' after t*e SC remanded it to t*e COMELEC in t*e Aton' %a'la-m case. COB 0 ANAD 8as 8as already already 'iven 'iven an an opportopport-nity nity to prov prove e its 9-ali4c 9-ali4catio ations ns in a s-mmary s-mmary *earin *earin' ' in A-' "#! "#! "1". >n re0eval-atin' ANAD3s 9-ali4cations p-rs-ant to t*e Aton' %a'la-m case! t*e COMELEC need not *ave *ave called called anot*er anot*er *earin'. *earin'. COMELEC COMELEC co-ld easily easily resort resort to t*e docs docs previo previo-sly -sly s-bmitted by ANAD. 0 /act-a act-all 4ndin 4ndin's 's of t*e COMELEC COMELEC s*o-ld s*o-ld be respe respecte cted d 'iven 'iven its role as t*e special speciali&e i&ed d a'ency a'ency tased to s-pervise elections in t*e co-ntry. *-s! ANAD can3t 9-estion COMELEC3s 4ndin' t*at only only # nomin nominees ees 8ere 8ere in t*e Certi4c Certi4cate ate!! and and t*at t*at ANAD ANAD failed failed to s-bmit s-bmit t*e t*e Statem Statemen entt of  Contrib-tion and E=penses for t*e "2 Elections.  *e e=*ibits e=*ibits s-bmitted by ANAD consisted mainly of a list of total contrib-tions contrib-tions from ot*er persons! persons! a list of o?cial o?cial receipts receipts and amo-nts 8it*o-t 8it*o-t corres correspond pondin' in' receipts! receipts! and a list of  e=pendit-res based on order slips and donations 8it*o-t distinction as to 8*et*er t*e amo-nts listed listed 8ere 8ere advance advanced d s-bect s-bect to reimb-r reimb-rseme sement nt or donated. donated. S-c* e=*ibit e=*ibits s did not meet t*e prescribed form speci4ed by t*e la8 and 8ere t*-s considered as not 4led. 0 >n any case! case! t*e o?cial o?cial tally tally of of t*e COMEL COMELEC EC s*o8s s*o8s t*at t*at ANAD 'arn 'arnere ered d "!62" "!62" votes votes.. *-s! *-s! even if it 8as declared 9-ali4ed and t*e votes cast for it are canvassed! statistics s*o8 t*at it 8ill still fail to 9-alify for a seat in t*e ,o-se of epresentatives.