GR L 543; (August, 1946) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-543; August 31, 1946
JOSE O. VERA, ET AL., petitioners, vs. JOSE A. AVELINO, ET AL., respondents.
FACTS
Pursuant to the Constitution, the Commission on Elections submitted a report on the April 1946 national elections. The report stated that, due to specified acts of terrorism and violence in the Provinces of Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and Tarlac, the voting in that region did not reflect the true and free expression of the popular will. When the Senate convened on May 25, 1946, it approved the Pendatun Resolution. This resolution, citing the Commission’s report and a minority report from a Commission member, ordered that petitioners Jose O. Vera, Ramon Diokno, and Jose E. Romero—who were among the sixteen senatorial candidates proclaimed by the Commission on Elections as having received the highest number of votes—should not be sworn in nor seated as members of the Senate, pending the termination of election protests filed against them which were based on the alleged terrorism. The petitioners immediately instituted this action to annul the resolution and compel the respondents to permit them to occupy their seats and exercise their senatorial prerogatives.
ISSUE
Whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to issue a writ of mandamus to compel the Philippine Senate to seat the petitioners.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court, citing the doctrine of separation of powers, denied the petition. The Court held that it does not possess the power to coerce a legislative body to take a particular action, such as seating a member. It relied on the precedent set in Alejandrino vs. Quezon (46 Phil. 83), which established that the judicial department has no power to revise actions taken by the legislative department in pursuance of its exclusive constitutional powers. The Court stated that mandamus will not lie against a legislative body, its members, or its officers to compel the performance of duties purely legislative in character. Therefore, irrespective of the legality or propriety of the Senate’s resolution, the writ prayed for could not be issued.