EN BANC

G.R. No. 193643 January 29, 2013

ANTONIO D. DAYAO, ROLANDO P. RAMIREZ and ADELIO R. CAPCO, Petitioners,

G.R. No. 193704

FEDERATION OF PHILIPPINE INDUSTRIES, INC., Petitioner,

DECISION

REYES, J.:

The Case
At bench are consolidated1 petitions for certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court,
with prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order, seeking the annulment of
the Resolutions of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) dated August 5, 20102
and September 6, 2010.3
The first assailed resolution denied the complaint filed by petitioners Antonio D. Dayao,
Rolando P. Ramirez, Adelio R. Capco and Federation of Philippine Industries, Inc.
(FPII) for the cancellation of the registration of private respondent LPG Marketers
Association, Inc. (LPGMA) as a sectoral organization under the Party-List System of
Representation. The second assailed resolution denied reconsideration.
The Facts
The individual petitioners are dealers of different brands of liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG)4 while petitioner FPII is an association comprised of entities engaged in various
industries in the country.5
Private respondent LPGMA is a non-stock, non-profit association of consumers and
small industry players in the LPG and energy sector who have banded together in order
to pursue their common objective of providing quality, safe and reasonably priced gas
and oil products.6 The group advocates access to reasonably priced LPG by household
consumers.7
On May 21, 2009, LPGMA sought to advance its cause by seeking party-list
accreditation with the COMELEC, through a petition for registration as a sectoral
organization for the purpose of participating in the May 10, 2010 elections under
Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7941 or the Party-List System Act. LPGMA claimed that it has
special interest in the LPG industry and other allied concerns. It averred that one of its
programs is the promotion of fair trade practices and prevention of re-entry of cartels
and monopolies by actively pursuing the initial gains of oil deregulation, and vigilant
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advocacy for the curtailment of bureaucratic and regulatory procedures and
governmental practices detrimental to the entry, development and well-being of small
LPG entrepreneurs.8
After the requisite publication, verification and hearing,9 and without any apparent
opposition, LPGMA’s petition was approved by the COMELEC in its Resolution dated
January 5, 2010.10
Four (4) months thereafter, individual petitioners lodged before the COMELEC a
complaint for the cancellation of LPGMA’s registration as a party-list organization.11
They were later on joined by FPII as a complainant-in-intervention.12
The complaint was docketed as SPP No. 10-010 and it proffered in essence that
LPGMA does not represent a marginalized sector of the society because its
incorporators, officers and members are not marginalized or underrepresented citizens
since they are actually marketers and independent re-fillers of LPG that control 45% of
the national LPG retail market and have significant ownership interests in various LPG
refilling plants. To buttress the complaint, FPII emphasized that the business of
marketing and refilling LPG requires substantial working capital as it involves the
purchase of LPG from importers or big oil players in the country, establishment of
refilling plants and safety auxiliary equipments, purchase or lease of thousands of LPG
containers, mobilization of a marketing, distribution and delivery network. FPII also
alleged that LPGMA is a mere lobby group that espouses their own interests before the
Congress and the Department of Energy.
In response, LPGMA countered that Section 5(2), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution
does not require that party-list representatives must be members of the marginalized
and/or underrepresented sector of the society. It also averred that the ground cited by
the petitioners is not one of those mentioned in Section 6 of R.A. No. 7941 and that
petitioners are just trying to resurrect their lost chance to oppose the petition for
registration.13
In its first assailed Resolution dated August 5, 2010, 14 the COMELEC dismissed the
complaint for two reasons. First, the ground for cancellation cited by the petitioners is
not among the exclusive enumeration in Section 6 of R.A. No. 7941. Second, the
complaint is actually a belated opposition to LPGMA’s petition for registration which has
long been approved with finality on January 5, 2010. The ruling was reiterated in the
COMELEC Resolution dated September 6, 201015 denying the petitioners’ motions for
reconsideration.16
Pivotal to the said resolutions are the ensuing ratiocinations of the COMELEC, viz:
LPGMA’s registration was approved x x x as early as 05 January 2010. Instead of
opposing said registration or intervening therein after having been constructively notified
thereof by its publication, petitioners waited almost four (4) entire months before filing
the instant complaint. The purpose of publication in these kinds of cases is similar to
that of land registration cases, which is "to apprise the whole world that such a petition
has been filed and that whoever is minded to oppose it for good cause may do so." This
belated filing x x x is an unfortunate attempt to circumvent the obviously final and
executory nature of the Resolution dated 05 January 2010. Granting the present
complaint will only reward petitioners’ inaction x x x.17 (Citations omitted)
The petitioners must be reminded that the matter has already been ruled upon. In the
Resolution promulgated on January 5, 2010 x x x, this Commission (First Division) has
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resolved to grant the Petition for Registration of LPGMA as a sectoral organization
under the party-list system of representation. After a thorough evaluation of the Petition,
the Commission (First Division) has concluded that LPGMA truly represents a
marginalized and underrepresented sector. With respect to the said conclusion, absent
any circumstance subsequent to the promulgation of the mentioned Resolution which
would call for the cancellation of registration of LPGMA, the same can no longer be
disturbed by this Commission. To warrant a cancellation of LPGMA’s registration, there
should be a strong showing that there has been a change in the relevant factual matters
surrounding the Petition x x x.18
Ascribing grave abuse of discretion to the COMELEC, the petitioners now implore the
Court to determine the correctness of the COMELEC resolutions dated August 5, 2010
and September 6, 2010.
The Arguments of the Parties
After directing the respondents to comment on the petitions, 19 the Court received on
March 17, 2011 from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), a Manifestation and
Motion to Remand (In Lieu of Comment).20 According to the OSG, since the COMELEC
failed to resolve the factual issue on the qualifications of LPGMA as a registered party-
list organization, the case must be remanded to the electoral body for summary hearing
and reception of evidence on the matter.
For its part, LPGMA retorted that another hearing would be a superfluity because the
COMELEC has already heard and verified LPGMA’s qualifications during the
proceedings for its petition for registration. LPGMA asserts that the petitions should
instead be dismissed as they involve factual questions that cannot be entertained in a
petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court.21
On December 26, 2012, LPGMA manifested22 to the Court that pursuant to COMELEC
Resolution dated December 13, 2012, LPGMA passed the recent automatic review
conducted by the COMELEC on the qualifications of party-list groups. LPGMA was
found compliant with the guidelines set by law and jurisprudence and its accreditation
was retained for purposes of the 2013 party-list elections.
Ruling of the Court
There was no valid justification for the dismissal of the complaint for cancellation.
However, in light of COMELEC Resolution dated December 13, 2012, the present
petitions ought to be dismissed.
An opposition to a petition for registration is not a condition precedent to the filing of a
complaint for cancellation.
Section 6, R.A. No. 7941 lays down the grounds and procedure for the cancellation of
party-list accreditation, viz:
Sec. 6. Refusal and/or Cancellation of Registration.
The COMELEC may, motu propio or upon verified complaint of any interested party,
refuse or cancel, after due notice and hearing, the registration of any national, regional
or sectoral party, organization or coalition on any of the following grounds:
(1) It is a religious sect or denomination, organization or association, organized for
religious purposes;
(2) It advocates violence or unlawful means to seek its goal;
(3) It is a foreign party or organization;
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(4) It is receiving support from any foreign government, foreign political party,
foundation, organization, whether directly or through any of its officers or members or
indirectly through third parties for partisan election purposes;
(5) It violates or fails to comply with laws, rules or regulations relating to elections;
(6) It declares untruthful statements in its petition;
(7) It has ceased to exist for at least one (1) year; or
(8) It fails to participate in the last two (2) preceding elections or fails to obtain at least
two per centum (2%) of the votes cast under the party-list system in the two (2)
preceding elections for the constituency in which it has registered.
For the COMELEC to validly exercise its statutory power to cancel the registration of a
party-list group, the law imposes only two (2) conditions: (1) due notice and hearing is
afforded to the party-list group concerned; and (2) any of the enumerated grounds for
disqualification in Section 6 exists.
Section 6 clearly does not require that an opposition to the petition for registration be
previously interposed so that a complaint for cancellation can be entertained. Since the
law does not impose such a condition, the COMELEC, notwithstanding its delegated
administrative authority to promulgate rules for the implementation of election laws,
cannot read into the law that which it does not provide. The poll body is mandated to
enforce and administer election-related laws. It has no power to contravene or amend
them.23
Moreover, an opposition can be reasonably expected only during the petition for
registration proceedings which involve the COMELEC’s power to register a party-list
group, as distinguished from the entirely separate power invoked by the complaint,
which is the power to cancel.
The distinctiveness of the two powers is immediately apparent from their basic
definitions. To refuse is to decline or to turn down, 24 while to cancel is to annul or
remove.25 Adopting such meanings within the context of Section 6, refusal of
registration happens during the inceptive stage when an organization seeks admission
into the roster of COMELEC-registered party-list organizations through a petition for
registration. Cancellation on the other hand, takes place after the fact of registration
when an inquiry is done by the COMELEC, motu propio or upon a verified complaint, on
whether a registered party-list organization still holds the qualifications imposed by law.
Refusal is handed down to a petition for registration while cancellation is decreed on the
registration itself after the petition has been approved.
A resort to the rules of statutory construction yields a similar conclusion.
The legal meaning of the term "and/or" between "refusal" and "cancellation" should be
taken in its ordinary significance  "refusal and/or cancellation" means "refusal and
cancellation" or "refusal or cancellation". It has been held that the intention of the
legislature in using the term "and/or" is that the word "and" and the word "or" are to be
used interchangeably.26
The term "and/or" means that effect shall be given to both the conjunctive "and" and the
disjunctive "or" or that one word or the other may be taken accordingly as one or the
other will best effectuate the purpose intended by the legislature as gathered from the
whole statute. The term is used to avoid a construction which by the use of the
disjunctive "or" alone will exclude the combination of several of the alternatives or by the
4
use of the conjunctive "and" will exclude the efficacy of any one of the alternatives
standing alone.27
Hence, effect shall be given to both "refusal and cancellation" and "refusal or
cancellation" according to how Section 6 intended them to be employed. The word
"and" is a conjunction used to denote a joinder or union; it is pertinently defined as
meaning "together with", "joined with", "along or together with." 28 The use of "and" in
Section 6 was necessitated by the fact that refusal and cancellation of party-list
registration share similar grounds, manner of initiation and procedural due process
requirements of notice and hearing. With respect to the said matters, "refusal" and
"cancellation" must be taken together. The word "or", on the other hand, is a disjunctive
term signifying disassociation and independence of one thing from the other things
enumerated; it should, as a rule, be construed in the sense in which it ordinarily implies,
as a disjunctive word.29 As such, "refusal or cancellation", consistent with their
disjunctive meanings, must be taken individually to mean that they are separate
instances when the COMELEC can exercise its power to screen the qualifications of
party-list organizations for purposes of participation in the party-list system of
representation.
That this is the clear intent of the law is bolstered by the use simply of the word "or" in
the first sentence of Section 6 that "the COMELEC may, motu propio or upon verified
complaint of any interested party, refuse or cancel, after due notice and hearing, the
registration of any national, regional or sectoral party, organization or coalition."
Consequently, the COMELEC’s conclusion that the complaint for cancellation, filed four
(4) months after the petition was approved, is actually a belated opposition, obliterates
the distinction between the power to register/refuse and the power to cancel. Since an
opposition may only be sensibly interposed against a petition for registration, the
proceedings for which involve the COMELEC’s power to register, it is wrong to impose it
as a condition for the exercise of the COMELEC’s entirely separate power to cancel. As
such, the absence of an opposition to a petition for registration cannot serve to bar any
interested party from questioning, through a complaint for cancellation, the qualifications
of a party-list group.
II. The accreditation of a party-list group can never attain perpetual and irrefutable
conclusiveness against the granting authority.
There is no arguing that the COMELEC Resolution dated January 5, 2010 granting
LPGMA’s registration has since become final. Such finality, however, pertains only to
the Resolution itself and not to the accreditation of LPGMA as a party-list organization.
The said Resolution, as in any other resolution granting the registration of any other
organization desirous of party-list accreditation, did nothing more but to vest with
LPGMA the right to participate in the party- list elections, i.e. file a manifestation of its
intent to participate and have the same given due course by the COMELEC, the right to
field its nominees, the right to exercise all that is bestowed by our election laws to
election candidates (hold campaigns, question the canvass of election returns, etc.),
and the right to assume office should it obtain the required number of votes. With
respect to such matters, the COMELEC resolution was already final. LPGMA’s right to
run, as it did so run, during the 2010 party-list elections is already beyond challenge.
However, the Resolution did not create in LPGMA’s favor a perpetual and indefeasible
right to its accreditation as a party-list organization. Neither did it grant finality and
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indefeasibility to the factual findings of the COMELEC on the qualifications of the group.
Both the accreditation and the facts substantiating the same, can be reviewed and
revoked at any time by the COMELEC, motu propio, or upon the instance of any
interested party thru a complaint for cancellation, as set forth in Section 6 of R.A. No.
7941.
Each accreditation handed by the COMELEC to party-list organizations can be likened
to the franchise granted by Congress, thru the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC), to corporations or associations created under the Corporation Code.
Franchise is a right or privilege conferred by law. It emanates from a sovereign power
and the grant is inherently a legislative power. It may, however, be derived indirectly
from the state through an agency to which the power has been clearly and validly
delegated. In such cases, Congress prescribes the conditions on which the grant of a
franchise may be made.30
The power to pass upon, refuse or deny the application for registration of any
corporation or partnership is vested with the SEC by virtue of Presidential Decree (P.D.)
No. 902-A. R.A. No 7941, on the other hand, is the legislative act that delegates to the
COMELEC the power to grant franchises in the form of accreditation to people’s
organization desirous of participating in the party-list system of representation.
Corporations formed under the Corporation Code become juridical entities only when
they are granted registration by the SEC in the same way that people’s organizations
obtain legal existence as a party-list group only upon their accreditation with the
COMELEC. A party-list organization, like a corporation, owes its legal existence to the
concession of its franchise from the State, thru the COMELEC.
Being a mere concession, it may be revoked by the granting authority upon the
existence of certain conditions. The power to revoke and grounds for revocation are
aptly provided in Section 6(1) of P.D. No. 902-A,31 for corporations and Section 6 of
R.A. No. 7941 for party-list organizations.
The fact that a franchise/accreditation may be revoked means that it can never be final
and conclusive. A fortiori, the factual findings leading to the grant of the
franchise/accreditation can never attain finality as well. Both the accreditation and the
facts substantiating it can never attain perpetual and irrefutable conclusiveness as
against the power that grants it. The circumstances of the grantee are subject to
constant review and the franchise/accreditation from which it derives its existence may
be suspended or revoked at the will of the granting authority.
The separate instances when the COMELEC can check the qualifications of party-list
groups entail distinct statutory powers―the power to register which includes the power
to refuse registration, and the power to cancel the registration so granted. Necessarily
then, proceedings involving the exercise of one power is independent of the other such
that factual findings in the proceedings for a petition for registration are not conclusive
with respect to the factual issues that may be raised in a complaint for cancellation.
Further, it must be noted that refusal and cancellation share similar grounds. The
registration of a putative party-list group can only be granted if none of the
disqualifications in Section 6 exists. Conversely, a complaint for cancellation will prosper
if any of the same grounds in Section 6 is present. Inevitably then, a negative finding of
disqualification in a petition for registration is the very same fact that will be questioned
in a complaint for cancellation. Hence, to say that the findings leading to the grant of
6
registration are final and conclusive with respect to the qualification of the party-list
group will effectively put in vain any complaint for cancellation that may be filed. It leads
to the perilous conclusion that the registration of a party-list group, once granted, is
unassailable and perpetual which, in turn, will render nugatory the equally existing
power of the COMELEC to cancel the same. R.A. No. 7941 could not have
contemplated such an absurdity.
The Court has recognized the COMELEC’s cancellation power in several occasions.
In Bello v. COMELEC,32 the Court confirmed that a complaint for the cancellation of
party-list registration, aside from a petition for the disqualification of the party-list
nominee, provides a "plain, speedy and adequate remedy", against a party-list
organization alleged to have failed to comply with Section 6 of COMELEC Resolution
No. 880733 which requires a party-list group and its nominees to submit documentary
evidence to prove that they belong to a marginalized and underrepresented sector.
In the recent ABC (Alliance for Barangay Concerns) Party-List v. COMELEC,34 the
Court reiterated that Section 6 of R.A. No. 7941 validates the authority of the
COMELEC, not only to register political parties, organizations or coalitions, but also to
cancel their registration based on the same legal grounds. Such authority emanates
from no less than Section 2(5), Article IX-C of the Constitution, which states:
Sec. 2. The Commission on Elections shall exercise the following powers and functions:
xxxx
(5) Register, after sufficient publication, political parties, organizations, or coalitions
which, in addition to other requirements, must present their platform or program of
government; and accredit citizens’ arms of the Commission on Elections. Religious
denominations and sects shall not be registered. Those which seek to achieve their
goals through violence or unlawful means, or refuse to uphold and adhere to this
Constitution, or which are supported by any foreign government shall likewise be
refused registration.
Financial contributions from foreign governments and their agencies to political parties,
organizations, coalitions, or candidates related to elections constitute interference in
national affairs, and, when accepted, shall be an additional ground for the cancellation
of their registration with the Commission, in addition to other penalties that may be
prescribed by law. (Underscoring ours)
It is the role of the COMELEC to ensure the realization of the intent of the Constitution
to give genuine power to those who have less in life by enabling them to become
veritable lawmakers themselves, by seeing to it that only those Filipinos who are
marginalized and underrepresented become members of Congress under the party-list
system.35 To effectively discharge this role, R.A. No. 7941 grants the COMELEC the
power not only to register party-list groups but also to review and cancel their
registration.
In ruling that the finality of its Resolution dated January 5, 2010 stretched to the
accreditation of LPGMA, the COMELEC practically enfeebled and denied its own power
to cancel what it is exclusively empowered to grant.
Under paragraph 5 of Section 6, a party-list organization may be disqualified on the
ground that its officers and members do not belong to the marginalized and
underrepresented sector.
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The allegation in the complaint for cancellation, that the incorporators, officers and
members of LPGMA do not belong to the marginalized or underrepresented sector, is
within the ambit of paragraph 5 of Section 6.
In Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party v. COMELEC,36 the Court explained that the
"laws, rules or regulations relating to elections" referred to in paragraph 5 include
Section 2 of R.A. No. 7941,37 which declares the underlying policy for the law that
marginalized and underrepresented Filipino citizens become members of the House of
Representatives, viz:
Note should be taken of paragraph 5, which disqualifies a party or group for violation of
or failure to comply with election laws and regulations. These laws include Section 2 of
RA 7941, which states that the party-list system seeks to "enable Filipino citizens
belonging to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties x x
x to become members of the House of Representatives." A party or an organization,
therefore, that does not comply with this policy must be disqualified.38
The party-list system of representation was crafted for the marginalized and
underrepresented and their alleviation is the ultimate policy of the law. In fact, there is
no need to categorically mention that "those who are not marginalized and
underrepresented are disqualified." As state policy, it must permeate every discussion
of the qualification of political parties and other organizations under the party-list
system.39
All told, the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in dismissing the complaint
for cancellation of LPGMA’s party-list accreditation. In the ordinary course of procedure,
the herein complaint should be remanded to the COMELEC considering that the poll
body did not proceed to make a proximate determination of the present circumstances
of LPGMA’s qualifications. In view, however of superseding incidents, the issue involved
in the complaint for cancellation can be deemed to have been already settled and a
remand to the COMELEC would only be circuitous and dilatory.
On August 2, 2012, the COMELEC issued Resolution No. 9513 40 which subjected to
summary evidentiary hearings all existing and registered party-list groups, including
LPGMA, to assess their continuing compliance with the requirements of R.A. No. 7941
and the guidelines set in Ang Bagong Bayani. The Resolution stated, among others,
that the registration of all non-compliant groups shall be cancelled. LPGMA submitted to
a factual and evidentiary hearing before the COMELEC en banc on August 28,
2012.1âwphi1
On December 13, 2012, the COMELEC issued a Resolution 41 identifying and listing the
party-list groups found to have complied with the qualifications set by law and
jurisprudence. The list of retained party-list groups included LPGMA. Pertinent portions
of the Resolution read:
After exhaustive deliberation and careful review of the records, the Commission en
bane finds the following groups accredited with the party-list system compliant with the
law and jurisprudence, and thus resolves to retain their registration for purposes of
allowing them to participate in the 2013 elections. These groups and organizations, as
well as their respective nominees, possess all the qualifications and none of the
disqualifications under the law. Moreover, these groups belong to the marginalized and
underrepresented sectors they seek to represent; they have genuinely and continuously
supported their members and constituents, as shown by their track records.
8
In order to streamline the list of accredited groups that will be allowed to participate in
the 2013 elections, both the existing groups retained, and the new applicants whose
petitions for registration have been granted, shall be listed herein. The Commission
however finds it necessary to identify the groups retained or allowed but with dissent
from some of the Commissioners, thus:

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Table 2

EXISTING PARTY-LIST RETAINED (With dissent)

Evidently, the COMELEC has already determined and declared that the present factual
circumstances of LPGMA meet the qualifications imposed by law on party-list groups. It
will be a needless roundabout to still remand the complaint to the COMELEC for it to
determine anew the present state of LPGMA's qualifications. No useful purpose will be
served thereby and it will just be a tedious process of hearing the factual and
evidentiary matters of LPGMA's qualifications again. The COMELEC in its Resolution
dated December 13, 2012 has passed upon the issue and all other relevant questions
raised in the complaint.

WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, the consolidated petitions are hereby
DISMISSED.

SO ORDERED.

BIENVENIDO L. REYES
Associate Justice

WE CONCUR: