G.R. Nos. 207199-200; October 22, 2013
WIGBERTO R. TAÑADA, JR., Petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ANGELINA D. TAN, AND ALVIN JOHN S. TAÑADA, Respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Wigberto R. Tañada, Jr., respondent Angelina D. Tan, and respondent Alvin John S. Tañada were candidates for the congressional seat of Quezon Province’s 4th District in the May 2013 elections. Wigberto filed petitions before the COMELEC to cancel Alvin John’s Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) and to declare him a nuisance candidate. The COMELEC En Banc, in its April 25, 2013 Resolution, granted the petition for cancellation under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code due to Alvin John’s false material representation regarding residency. However, it simultaneously denied the petition to declare Alvin John a nuisance candidate under Section 69, finding he had a bona fide intention to run.
Despite the CoC cancellation, Alvin John’s name remained on the ballot. The Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) refused Wigberto’s plea to credit Alvin John’s votes to him, ruling that such crediting applies only to nuisance candidates disqualified under Section 69, not to candidates cancelled under Section 78. The PBOC then proclaimed Angelina as the winner. Wigberto subsequently filed an election protest before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and initiated this certiorari petition to challenge the COMELEC’s finding that Alvin John was not a nuisance candidate.
ISSUE
Whether the Supreme Court can review the COMELEC En Banc’s Resolution declaring Alvin John S. Tañada not a nuisance candidate.
RULING
The Supreme Court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction. The legal logic is anchored on the doctrine of constitutional separation of jurisdictions. Under Section 17, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, the HRET is the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of members of the House of Representatives. This jurisdiction is exclusive and begins once a candidate has been proclaimed, has taken their oath, and assumed office.
The Court found that the core relief sought by Wigberto—the crediting of Alvin John’s votes to himself and his subsequent declaration as the winning candidate—is quintessentially a matter of an election contest over the returns and qualifications of a House member. Since Wigberto had already filed an election protest ad cautelam with the HRET, that tribunal had properly assumed exclusive jurisdiction over the substantive issue of who rightfully won the election. The Supreme Court’s potential review of the COMELEC’s nuisance candidate ruling would be an impermissible intrusion into the HRET’s constitutional domain. The petition was therefore rendered moot and academic by the HRET’s assumption of jurisdiction over the electoral contest.
