GR L 2821; (March, 1949) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-2821. March 4, 1949.
JOSE AVELINO, petitioner, vs. MARIANO J. CUENCO, respondent.
FACTS
During a Senate session on February 21, 1949, then Senate President Jose Avelino employed dilatory tactics to prevent Senator Lorenzo Tañada from delivering a privilege speech containing charges against him. After a series of procedural maneuvers and a commotion, Avelino abruptly abandoned the chair and left the session hall with several senators. The remaining senators, constituting a quorum, continued the session. Senator Melencio Arranz, as Senate President Pro-Tempore, presided, and the Senate unanimously adopted Resolution No. 68 (approving the charges against Avelino) and Resolution No. 67 (declaring the position of Senate President vacant and designating Mariano J. Cuenco as Acting Senate President). The President of the Philippines recognized Cuenco. Avelino filed a quo warranto petition to be declared the rightful Senate President and to oust Cuenco.
ISSUE
Does the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the petition, which involves the election of the Senate President?
RULING
No. The Supreme Court denied the petition. The Court held it lacked jurisdiction over the controversy due to the separation of powers, the political nature of the question, and the constitutional grant to the Senate of the power to elect its own presiding officer. The judiciary should not interfere with or take over this power. The remedy for the petitioner, if he indeed had the support of the majority of senators, lay within the Senate itself, not in the courts. The Court abstained from sallying into the legitimate domain of a co-equal branch of government.
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