Election Laws: Chapter 1 — General Principles
Chapter 1 — General Principles
Theory of popular sovereignty.
Section 1, Article II of the Constitution says:
"The Philippines is a democratic and republican state. Sovereignty resides in the people and all goverment authority emanates from them."
Theoretically but fundamentally, the people combined represent the sovereign power of the State.
In practice, however, sovereignty is exercised by the electorate and those chosen by them, directly or indirectly, the elective and the appointive officials.
Moya v. Del Fierro, 69 Phil. 199 (1930):
Republicanism, in so far as it implies the adoption of a representative type of government necessarily points to the enfranchised citizens as the ultimate source of established authority.
So, a democratic and republican government derives all its powers, directly or indirectly, from the people at large.
Its essence is indirect rule.
Actual sovereignty is exercised by the people by means of suffrage through the ballot of the registered voters in duly appointed elections held from time to time.
Meaning of suffrage.
Suffrage is the right as well as obligation of qualified citizens to vote in the election of certain national and local officers of the government and in the decision of public questions submitted to the people.
It necessarily includes the right to free speech and expression, specifically the right of the voter to vocalize his choice of candidates to the public in general.
Nature of suffrage.
Suffrage is not a natural right of the citizens but merely a
privilege to be given or withheld by the lawmaking power subject to constitutional limitations.
❌ It is not a necessary accompaniment of citizenship.
It is granted to individuals only upon the fulfillment of certain minimum conditions deemed essential for the welfare of society.
The exercise of the right of suffrage, as in the enjoyment of all other rights, is not absolute; it is subject to existing substantive and procedural requirements provided in the Constitution, statutes, and valid rules and regulations.
Only on the most serious grounds and upon clear and convincing proof may a citizen be deemed to have forfeited his right of suffrage.
Suffrage is a right because it is the expression of the sovereign will of the people.
In the sense of a right conferred by the Constitution, suffrage is classified as a political right, as well as a bounden duty of every citizen, enabling him to participate in the process of government to assure that it truly derives its powers solely from the consent of the governed.
The right of suffrage is based upon the theory that the people who bear the burden of government should share in the privilege of choosing the officials of the government.
The principle is that of one (1) man, one (1) vote.
Suffrage, as a patriotic duty of every qualified citizen, is in the nature of a public trust and constitutes a voter a representative of the whole people.
This duty, while not compulsory, requires that the privilege bestowed should be exercised not exclusively for the benefit of the voter but in good faith and with intelligent zeal for the general benefit and welfare of the State.
Scope of suffrage.
Suffrage includes:
Election.
Strictly speaking, it is the means by which the people choose, through the use of the ballot, their officials for definite and fixed periods and to whom they entrust, for the time being as their representatives, the exercise of powers of government.
It is the expression of the sovereign will of the people, involving the choice or selection of candidates to public office by popular vote.
Specifically, the term "election," in the context of the Constitution, may refer to the conduct of the polls including the list of voters, the holding of the electoral campaign, and the casting and counting of votes.
Plebiscite.
It is the name given to a vote of the people expressing their choice for or against a proposed law or enactment submitted to them.
In the Philippines, the term is applied to an election at which any proposed amendment to, or revision of, the Constitution is submitted to the people for their ratification.
Plebiscite is also required by the Constitution to secure the approval of the people directly affected, before certain proposed changes (creation, division, merger, abolition or boundary change of a political unit) affecting local government units may be implemented;
Referendum.
It is the submission of a law passed by the national or local legislative body to the registered voters at an election called for the purpose for their ratification or rejection.
It is a mode of appealing from an elected body to the whole body of voters;
Initiative.
It is the process whereby the registered voters directly propose, enact, or amend laws, national or local, through an election called for the purpose.
Congress is mandated by the Constitution to provide as early as possible for a system of initiative and referendum" which have been described as the "people-power" features of our Constitution.
Amendments to the Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people through initiative; and
Recall.
It is a method by which a public officer may be removed from office during his tenure or before the expiration of his term by a vote of the people after registration of a petition signed by a required percentage of the qualified voters.
Object of suffrage and election laws.
The main object of suffrage is the continuity of government and the preservation and perpetuation of its benefits.
This object is two (2)-fold:
to enable the people to choose their representatives to discharge sovereign functions — done through election
to determine their will upon such questions submitted to them — done by means of a plebiscite, referendum, initiative, and recall.
Election laws regulate how the right of suffrage is to be exercised.
They are intended as a means for assuring a free, honest, and orderly expression of the people's views and choice of candidates uninfluenced by threats, intimidation and corrupt motives.
Their purpose is to give effect to, rather than stifle or frustrate, the will of the voters.
It is settled that in case of doubt, political laws must be so construed as to give life and spirit to the popular mandate freely expressed through the ballot."
Power of Congress to regulate suffrage and elections.
Since the right of suffrage is a political and not a natural right, it is within the Power of the State to prescribe the manner in which such right shall be exercised.
Subject only to constitutional restrictions, Congress has unlimited power to enact laws relative to the right of suffrage including the power:
to define the qualifications of voters,
to regulate elections,
to prescribe the form of official ballot,
to provide for the manner in which candidates shall be chosen and the names that shall be printed upon the ballot,
to regulate the manner of conducting elections, and,
in the exercise of the police power, to suppress whatever evils may be incident to the election of public officers.
Constitutional provisions on suffrage.
The Constitution in its Article V provides:
Section 1.
Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote for at least six months immediately preceding the election.
No literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.
Section 2.
The Congress shall provide a system for securing the secrecy and sanctity of the ballots as well as a system for absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad.
The Congress shall also design a procedure for the disabled and the illiterate to vote without the assistance of other persons.
Until then, they shall be allowed to vote under existing laws and such rules as the Commission on Elections may promulgate to protect the secrecy of the ballot.
Residence in contemplation of election laws is synonymous to domicile.
Qualifications of voters/Disqualifications provided by law.
Section 1 prescribes the qualifications of voters.
It is not competent for Congress to add to or alter such qualifications.
The specification in the Constitution is an implied prohibition against interference.
The responsibility of determining who may be "disqualified by law," and, therefore, may be precluded from exercising the right of suffrage, is left by the Constitution to Congress.
The Constitution extends the right of suffrage even to Filipinos abroad provided they possess all the qualifications mentioned therein and none of the disqualifications provided by law.
Mandates on Congress.
The secrecy of the electoral process requires secrecy of the vote.
Under Section 2, Congress is mandated to enact a law prescribing procedures that will enable the disabled and the illiterates to secretly cast their ballots without requiring the assistance of other persons, to prevent them from being manipulated by unscrupulous politicians to insure their victory at the polls.
Congress is also mandated to provide a system of absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad. It is bound to set aside funds and other requirements for the purpose and to provide safeguards to ensure that elections overseas are held in a free, clean, and orderly manner.
Note: R.A. No. 9189, otherwise known as "The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003," was enacted on February 14, 2003.
Absentee voters may vote for president, vice-president, senators, and party-list representatives only.
Substantive requirements for exercise of suffrage.
Literacy requirement.
The 1973 Constitution removed the requirement under the 1935 Constitution on ability to read and write such that then, as now, an illiterate person has the right to vote. The arguments for its removal have been summarized as follows:
"The requirement [that a voter must know how to read and write] confuses literacy with intelligence, and learning with wisdom. A Filipino does not cease to be a Filipino because he is illiterate; a man pays taxes and he bleeds and he dies for his country whether he signs his name with a flourish or with an "X." Some 28% of our people - roughly about 4.3 millions among us who are more than 21 years old - are illiterates. They cannot, it is true, read newspapers or magazines. But they listen to the radio; they join conversations and discussions with their neighbors at corner stores, at cockpits, and over the family wash; they know what is happening in their community and in the country. Yet they are denied the right to take part in their government and to help shape their destiny.
Should we wonder that they would feel little loyalty to our democracy, and fall victims easily to the evils of other ideologies that falsely offer them the dignity of helping to shape their destiny? Granted that to give them the right to vote may pose practical problems of how their votes could be cast and counted, but these problems are not insurmountable. After all, our first election law did not require literacy in order to vote - only property. Later on property ownership was eliminated and literacy substituted. Thus, from the rule of the properties we pass to the rule of the learned. It is time we effect the rule of the people." (Senator Jose W. Diokno)
Property requirement.
Under the present Constitution, Congress cannot also impose property requirement for their exercise of suffrage. (Sec. 1.)
Property ownership not a test of an individual capacity.
The justification for the abolition of property qualification is the assumption that ownership of property, per se, neither adds to nor detracts from a man's capacity to function properly and fully as a social and political being.
Today, the argument that only property holders have "a stake in the community" is considered obsolete.
It is the human person that is to be represented and given primacy in the hierarchy of values.
Property requirement inconsistent with concept of republican government.
The imposition of property qualification on the voters would be inconsistent with the very nature and essence of our republican system of government ordained in our Constitution, for said political system is premised upon the tenet that sovereignty resides in the people and all governmental authority emanates from them, and this, in turn, implies necessarily that the right to vote and to be voted shall not be dependent upon the wealth of the individual concerned.
Property requirement inconsistent with social justice principles.
Social justice presupposes equal opportunity for all, rich and poor alike.
Accordingly, no person shall, by reason of poverty, be denied the chance to vote and to be elected to public office.
In a case, the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional a law requiring all candidates for public offices to post a surety bond equivalent to the one (1) year salary or emoluments of the position for which they are candidates which shall be forfeited if the candidates, except when declared winner, fail to obtain at least 10% of the votes cast for the office to which they have filed their certificates of candidacy. This law, according to the Supreme Court, in effect, imposed a property qualification.
Other substantive requirements.
Congress is prohibited by the Constitution to impose additional substantive (not procedural) requirements for voting similar in nature to literacy or ownership of property. Examples are:
Education.
As a general principle, the more education a man has the better and more valuable member of society he will be.
Yet it is quite possible for a person to become an important asset to government and the social body with little or no formal schooling.
Formal education itself is no guarantee of good citizenship or of intelligent voting.
Furthermore, the requirement of a high school or even an elementary education would disenfranchise large segments of the poorer classes of our population.
Sex.
The antagonism in the past to female suffrage stemmed in some degree from the belief that a woman's place was in the home and that the performance of public duties was the function of the male members of the family.
In other cases, the opposition was based on political expediency rather on principle.
At the present time, unless one is willing to contend that women, simply by virtue of their womanhood, are incapable of free and intelligent social and political activity, there would seem to be no adequate or justifiable basis for depriving them of equal voting rights with men.
Taxpaying ability.
This restriction is related to property requirement for voting.
Congress cannot, by law, deny to an individual the right to vote on the ground that he is exempted from taxation or is not liable to pay tax, or the taxes paid by him or for which he is liable during the year are below a specified amount.