Banat V. Comelec

Banat v. Comelec Summary Cases: ●

Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT) vs. Commission on Elections (COMELEC) 586 SCRA 210

Subject:

Party List System, Application of Two Percent Threshold and Three Seat Cap on Allocation of Additional Seats, Major Political Parties in the Party List System

Facts:

COMELEC applied the Veterans Federation Party v. COMELEC formula (aka Panganiban formula or First Party Rule) upon the completion of the canvass and party-list results, thereby proclaiming 15 party-lists to have obtained 21 seats in Congress.

In this case, BUHAY has the most number of votes (1,178,747, which is 7.2% of the total votes for the party-list system). Therefore, BUHAY is the “first party” according to Veterans and CIBAC. With 7.2% votes, it is entitled to 2 additional seats according to Veterans formula for allocating additional seats for the first party. Other parties entitled to additional seats follow a different formula, based on number of additional seats allocated to first party

Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT) filed a petition to proclaim the full number of party-list representatives (all 55 seats have to be proclaimed) provided by the Constitution before the COMELEC en banc. The COMELEC denied the said petition, stating that it had already become moot and academic.

Held:

Party List System- Four Inviolable Parameters

1. A Philippine-style party-list election has at least four inviolable parameters as clearly stated in Veterans: | Page 1 of 4

Twenty percent allocation - the combined number of all party-list congressmen shall not exceed twenty percent of the total membership of the House of Representatives, including those elected under the party list;

Two percent threshold - only those parties garnering a minimum of two percent of the total valid votes cast for the party-list system are ‘qualified’ to have a seat in the House of Representatives;

Three-seat limit - each qualified party, regardless of the number of votes it actually obtained, is entitled to a maximum of three seats; that is, one ‘qualifying’ and two additional seats;

Proportional representation- the additional seats which a qualified party is entitled to shall be computed "in proportion to their total number of votes.

2. However, because the formula in Veterans has flaws in its mathematical interpretation of the term "proportional representation," the Court is compelled to revisit the formula for the allocation of additional seats to party-list organizations

Application of Two Percent Threshold and Three Seat Cap on Allocation of Additional seats

Two percent threshold

3. The first clause of Section 11(b) of R.A. No. 7941 states that "parties, organizations, and coalitions receiving at least two percent (2%) of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall be entitled to one seat each." This clause guarantees a seat to the two-percenters.

4. The second clause of Section 11(b) of R.A. No. 7941 provides that "those garnering more than two percent (2%) of the votes shall be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total number of votes." This is where petitioners' and intervenors' problem with the formula in Veterans lies. Veterans interprets the clause "in proportion to their total number of votes" to be in proportion to the votes of the first party. This interpretation is contrary to the express language of R.A. No. 7941.

5. In computing the allocation of additional seats, the continued operation of the two percent threshold | Page 2 of 4

for the distribution of the additional seats as found in the second clause of Section 11 (b) of R.A. No. 7941 is unconstitutional. (Note: The court strikes down the two percent threshold only in relation to the distribution of the additional seats.)

6. The two percent threshold makes it mathematically impossible to achieve the maximum number of available party list seats when the number of available party list seats exceeds 50. The continued operation of the two percent threshold in the distribution of the additional seats frustrates the attainment of the permissive ceiling that 20% of the members of the House of Representatives shall consist of party-list representatives.

Three-seat cap

7. The three-seat cap, as a limitation to the number of seats that a qualified party-list organization may occupy, remains a valid statutory device that prevents any party from dominating the party-list elections.

Twenty Percent Allocation is a Ceiling

8. Neither the Constitution nor R.A. No. 7941 mandates the filling-up of the entire twenty percent allocation of party-list representatives found in the Constitution. The twenty percent allocation of party-list representatives is merely a ceiling; party-list representatives cannot be more than 20% of the members of the House of Representatives.

Allocation of Party List Seats

9. Allocation of Qualified seats (First Round):

(a) The parties shall be ranked from the highest to the lowest based on the number of votes they garnered during the elections.

(b) The parties receiving at least two percent of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall be entitled to one guaranteed seat each.

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(c) Fractional seats are disregarded in the absence of a provision in RA 7941 allowing for a rounding off of fractional seats.

10. Allocation of Additional seats (Second Round)

(d) The remaining available seats for allocation as ‘additional seats’ are the maximum seats reserved under the Party List System (20 percent ceiling) less the guaranteed or qualified seats.

(e) First, The percentage of votes garnered by each party-list candidate is multiplied by the remaining available seats. The resulting number (integer only, no rounding up) corresponds to a party's share in the remaining available seats.

(f) Second, one party-list seat is assigned to each of the parties next in rank until all available seats are completely distributed.

(g) Finally, apply the three-seat cap to determine the number of seats each qualified party-list candidate is entitled.

Major Political Parties

11. Neither the Constitution nor R.A. No. 7941 prohibits major political parties from participating in the party-list system. Major political parties are allowed to participate in party-list elections through their sectoral wings.

12. However, by a vote of 8-7, the Court decided to continue the ruling in Veterans disallowing major political parties from participating in the party-list elections, directly or indirectly.

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