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    Macalinta V COMELEC (ART 9)

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    Joshua Anthony Trinanes
    This case involved a challenge to the constitutionality of provisions in the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 that allowed a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to review, revise, amend, and approve the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission on Elections to implement the Act. The Supreme Court ruled that these provisions violated the independence guaranteed to constitutional commissions like COMELEC under the Constitution. Specifically, the Court found that while Congress has the authority to enact election laws, it cannot exercise supervisory powers over COMELEC's rule-making authority as this would intrude on COMELEC's independence as mandated by the Constitution. Therefore, the provisions giving the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee

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    Macalinta V COMELEC (ART 9)

    Uploaded by

    Joshua Anthony Trinanes
    20 views2 pages
    This case involved a challenge to the constitutionality of provisions in the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 that allowed a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to review, revise, amend, and approve the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission on Elections to implement the Act. The Supreme Court ruled that these provisions violated the independence guaranteed to constitutional commissions like COMELEC under the Constitution. Specifically, the Court found that while Congress has the authority to enact election laws, it cannot exercise supervisory powers over COMELEC's rule-making authority as this would intrude on COMELEC's independence as mandated by the Constitution. Therefore, the provisions giving the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee

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    Macalinta; V COMELEC (ART 9)

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    This case involved a challenge to the constitutionality of provisions in the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 that allowed a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to review, revise, amend, and approve the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission on Elections to implement the Act. The Supreme Court ruled that these provisions violated the independence guaranteed to constitutional commissions like COMELEC under the Constitution. Specifically, the Court found that while Congress has the authority to enact election laws, it cannot exercise supervisory powers over COMELEC's rule-making authority as this would intrude on COMELEC's independence as mandated by the Constitution. Therefore, the provisions giving the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    20 views2 pages

    Macalinta V COMELEC (ART 9)

    Uploaded by

    Joshua Anthony Trinanes
    This case involved a challenge to the constitutionality of provisions in the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 that allowed a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to review, revise, amend, and approve the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission on Elections to implement the Act. The Supreme Court ruled that these provisions violated the independence guaranteed to constitutional commissions like COMELEC under the Constitution. Specifically, the Court found that while Congress has the authority to enact election laws, it cannot exercise supervisory powers over COMELEC's rule-making authority as this would intrude on COMELEC's independence as mandated by the Constitution. Therefore, the provisions giving the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Title: Macalintal v COMELEC

    Subject Constitutional Law 1


    Topic: Constitutional Commissions (Independence)

    FACTS:
    Through a petition for certiorari and prohibition, Petitioner seeks the declaration of RA
    9189 (The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003) as unconstitutional. One of the questions
    raised by the petitioners is the constitutionality of Sections 19 and 25 of the said Republic Act
    which he avers violates Section 1, Article IX of the Constitution, to wit:
    Section 1. The Constitutional Commissions, which shall be independent, are the Civil Service
    Commission, the Commission on Elections, and the Commission on Audit.

    Petitioner holds that the creation of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee which
    has the power to review, revise, amend, and approve the Implementing Rules and Regulations
    promulgated by the COMELEC , RA 9189 intrudes into the independence of the COMELEC,
    which as independent constitutional body, is not under the control of either the executive or the
    legislative departments of government; that only COMELEC itself can promulgate rules and
    regulations which may be changed or revised only by the majority of its members; and that
    should the rules promulgated by COMELEC violate any law, it is the Court that has the power to
    review the same via the petition of ay interested party, including legislators.

    ISSUE
    Whether or not the independence of COMELEC is encroached by Congress through the
    creation of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee?

    RULING
    Yes. The Congress is overstepping on the powers of COMELEC upon the creation of the
    Joint Congressional Oversight Committee.

    RATIO DECIDENDI
    R.A. No. 9189 created the JCOC, as follows:

    SEC. 25.
    The Joint Congressional Oversight Committee shall have the power to monitor and evaluate the
    implementation of this Act. It shall review, revise, amend and approve the Implementing Rules
    and Regulations promulgated by the Commission. (Emphasis supplied)

    SEC. 19. Authority of the Commission to Promulgate Rules. – The Commission shall issue the
    necessary rules and regulations to effectively implement the provisions of this Act within sixty
    (60) days from the effectivity of this Act. The Implementing Rules and Regulations shall be
    submitted to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee created by virtue of this Act for prior
    approval.
    Composed of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, the Joint
    Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) is a purely legislative body. There is no question
    that the authority of Congress to "monitor and evaluate the implementation" of R.A. No. 9189 is
    geared towards possible amendments or revision of the law itself and thus, may be performed in
    aid of its legislation.
    However, aside from its monitoring and evaluation functions, R.A. No. 9189 gives to the
    JCOC the following functions: (a) to "review, revise, amend and approve the Implementing
    Rules and Regulations" (IRR) promulgated by the COMELEC [Sections 25 and 19]; and (b)
    subject to the approval of the JCOC [Section 17.1], the voting by mail in not more than three
    countries for the May 2004 elections and in any country determined by COMELEC.
    The ambit of legislative power under Article VI of the Constitution is circumscribed by
    other constitutional provisions. One such provision is Section 1 of Article IX-A of the 1987
    Constitution ordaining that constitutional commissions such as the COMELEC shall be
    "independent."
    The Court has no general powers of supervision over COMELEC which is an independent
    body "except those specifically granted by the Constitution," that is, to review its decisions,
    orders and rulings. In the same vein, it is not correct to hold that because of its recognized
    extensive legislative power to enact election laws, Congress may intrude into the independence
    of the COMELEC by exercising supervisory powers over its rule-making authority.
    By virtue of Section 19 of R.A. No. 9189, Congress has empowered the COMELEC to
    "issue the necessary rules and regulations to effectively implement the provisions of this Act
    within sixty days from the effectivity of this Act." This provision of law follows the usual
    procedure in drafting rules and regulations to implement a law – the legislature grants an
    administrative agency the authority to craft the rules and regulations implementing the law it
    has enacted, in recognition of the administrative expertise of that agency in its particular field of
    operation.47 Once a law is enacted and approved, the legislative function is deemed
    accomplished and complete. The legislative function may spring back to Congress relative to the
    same law only if that body deems it proper to review, amend and revise the law, but certainly not
    to approve, review, revise and amend the IRR of the COMELEC.
    By vesting itself with the powers to approve, review, amend, and revise the IRR for The
    Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003, Congress went beyond the scope of its constitutional
    authority. Congress trampled upon the constitutional mandate of independence of the
    COMELEC. Under such a situation, the Court is left with no option but to withdraw from its
    usual reticence in declaring a provision of law unconstitutional.
    The second sentence of the first paragraph of Section 19 stating that "[t]he Implementing
    Rules and Regulations shall be submitted to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee
    created by virtue of this Act for prior approval," and the second sentence of the second
    paragraph of Section 25 stating that "[i]t shall review, revise, amend and approve the
    Implementing Rules and Regulations promulgated by the Commission," whereby Congress, in
    both provisions, arrogates unto itself a function not specifically vested by the Constitution,
    should be stricken out of the subject statute for constitutional infirmity. Both provisions
    brazenly violate the mandate on the independence of the COMELEC.
    Similarly, the phrase, "subject to the approval of the Congressional Oversight
    Committee" in the first sentence of Section 17.1 which empowers the Commission to authorize
    voting by mail in not more than three countries for the May, 2004 elections; and the phrase,
    "only upon review and approval of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee" found in the
    second paragraph of the same section are unconstitutional as they require review and approval
    of voting by mail in any country after the 2004 elections. Congress may not confer upon itself
    the authority to approve or disapprove the countries wherein voting by mail shall be allowed, as
    determined by the COMELEC pursuant to the conditions provided for in Section 17.1 of R.A. No.
    9189.48 Otherwise, Congress would overstep the bounds of its constitutional mandate and
    intrude into the independence of the COMELEC.

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