ATENEO STUDENT JUDICIAL COURT

MVP 221, Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Schools

Katipunan Ave., Loyola Heights, Quezon City


MARIA ALEXANDRA D.
TANJANGCO,
John Gokongwei School of
Management Chairperson,
Petitioner








Case No. 14-2

Present:
PEPITO, C.M.,
GAITE,
PINEDA,
SEGISMUNDO,
STA. ISABEL, and
VILLARUEL, MM.

Promulgated:
July 6, 2014
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DECLARATORY RELIEF
STA. ISABEL, M.:
THIS CAUSE comes before the Court through the Petition for Declaratory Relief
filed by the Petitioner on June 29, 2014. Petitioner Maria Alexandra D. Tanjangco
prays for a clarification of Article XV, Section 4, subparagraph (a) of the 2005
Undergraduate Constitution of the Loyola Schools (Constitution) which states:
Vacancies that occur in the Central Board and School Boards before the
election of the Freshman Officers, with the exception of the positions of the
Sanggunian President and School Board Chairpersons, shall be filled via
special elections to be held simultaneously with the Freshman Year Officer
Elections.
The petitioner offers three possible interpretations of the said provision, that the
positions of President of the Sanggunian (president) and the Chairpersons of the
School Boards (chairperson):
(1) are not allowed to run in the special elections;
(2) are not required to be included in the special elections, however are allowed to be
included;
(3) are not allowed to take part in the special elections, however are allowed to take
part in a separate election held on the same dates.


Student Judicial Court 2 Declaratory Relief (July 6, 2014)

I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The recent general elections conducted last February 12-19, 2014 failed to garner
the constitutionally required number of total votes to elect, among others, the
president, vice president, secretary-general, and finance officer of the Central Board,
as well as most of the chairpersons of the School Boards. Art. XV, Sec. 4(a) of the
Constitution provides that vacancies in the Central Board and School Boards, with
the exception of the positions of president and chairperson, shall be filled during a
special election to be held simultaneous with the freshman elections.
Due to the unprecedented circumstance of having the positions of president and
most of the chairpersons still vacant after the general elections last February 2014,
the Sanggunian is now faced with the said constitutional provision that excludes the
positions of president and chairperson from running in the upcoming special
elections to be held simultaneously with the freshman elections. Thus, the issue
before the Court is the legality of allowing the said positions of president and
chairperson to be elected during the special elections held simultaneously with the
freshman election.
II. DISCUSSION
The power of the Sanggunian being derived from the student body is most
visibly manifested in the mandate of the same body in the election of Sanggunian
officers. Such electoral mandate can be exercised by the act of either voting or not
voting. The Constitution guarantees the right to abstain in any electoral exercise.
1

Just as the act of voting is an exercise of the right to suffrage, the same goes for the
act of not voting which, in itself, is an exercise of the student-voters electoral
mandate.
Unless there were extenuating circumstances in the February 2014 general
elections that caused the vacancy of the positions of president and most of the
chairpersons, it is the opinion of this Court that the results of the said elections must
be respected. In regards to this, the Court invokes its previous decision promulgated
on February 21, 2014 on Case No. 14-1 which ruled, among others,
(1) that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has given enough time for the
casting of votes during the February 2014 general elections;
(2) that the Comelec, although not being able to sufficiently rectify its errors in the
technical anomalies that transpired during general elections, was correct in
deciding not to extend the election period; and
(3) that the Comelec, in its use of the hard ballots, had tried to legitimately rectify the
errors in the electoral system.




1
Art. XV, Sec. 2 of the Constitution
Student Judicial Court 3 Declaratory Relief (July 6, 2014)

On the matter of the different interpretations of Art. XV, Sec. 4(a) of the
Constitution offered by the petitioner as recounted supra, for the first interpretation,
it is the view of this Court that said provision does indeed mean that the positions of
president and chairperson cannot really be elected during a special election
simultaneous with the freshman elections. For the second interpretation, if arguendo
the positions of president and chairperson are not really required to but can be
elected in a special election simultaneous with the freshman elections, then the Court
sees this interpretation as lacking merit as the Court sees no reason why said
positions will not be required to be part of a special election simultaneous with the
freshman elections if said positions were left vacant after an immediately prior
general election. For the third interpretation, the Court partially agrees with the
petitioner that the president and chairperson, although prohibited from being
elected during a special election simultaneous with the freshman elections, may be
elected at another election set at a different date.
The Constitution does not explicitly institute special elections as always
simultaneous with freshman elections. What the Constitution explicitly provides is
that, with the exception of president and chairperson, positions left vacant in the
Central Board and School Boards after a general election must be elected during a
special election that had to be held simultaneously with the freshman elections.
Furthermore, since Art. XIV, Sec. 3(h) of the Constitution also categorically gives the
Commission on Elections the power to call for special elections, the Court sees this as
meaning that the positions of president and chairperson can be elected in a special
election held on a different date from the freshman elections and ahead of the
general elections where these positions would normally be elected, should the
Commission so decide.
III. DECLARATORY JUDGMENT
It is the view of this Court that the silence of the Constitution about what course
of action to take if ever the positions of president and chairperson are ever left
vacant intends to respect the electoral mandate of the student body. However, the
Court believes that such mandate would not be breached if ever the positions of
president and chairperson are again brought up for election at an earlier time than
they usually would be elected since the same positions would similarly be subject to
the same electoral mandate of the student body. Furthermore, the Court also
recognizes the dilemma imposed upon the Sanggunian by this silence of the
Constitution, the different context from the time the Constitution was framed, and
the unprecedented circumstances that arose from the recent general elections.
WHEREFORE, the Court hereby conditionally allows the election of the
president and chairperson ahead of the general elections. The Commission on
Elections is ordered to proceed with the immediately upcoming special elections
simultaneous with the freshman elections without the positions of president and
chairperson. However, the Commission is granted the discretion of holding special
elections set at a different date from the immediately upcoming freshman elections
Student Judicial Court 4 Declaratory Relief (July 6, 2014)

and ahead of the immediately upcoming general elections for the positions of
president and chairperson so long as said special elections still comply with the
constitutionally prescribed timeframe for the election of Sanggunian officials.

SO ORDERED.


PAOLO JAMES STA. ISABEL
Magistrate

WE CONCUR:

LORENZO PEPITO
Chief Magistrate


DANIELLE JOANNA GAITE
Magistrate


MAGDALENA MARIE PINEDA
Magistrate


ALDWIN SEGISMUNDO
Magistrate


CRISTINE MARIE VILLARUEL
Magistrate





CERTIFICATON
Pursuant to Section 30 of the Rules of Court, I hereby certify that the conclusions
in this decision have been reached in consultation with the rest of the magistrates
before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of this Court.


LORENZO PEPITO
Chief Magistrate