BANAT VS.

COMELEC

Digest

Note: read Veterans Federation Vs. Comelec first

Facts:

Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT) filed a Petition to
Proclaim the Full Number of Party list Representatives Provided by the Constitution because the
Comelec is bound to implement the Veterans vs. Comelec ruling and now questions its constitutionality,
applying the Panganiban Formula in allocating party-list seats. Sec 11 of Republic Act no. 7941 (party list
system act) provides the 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: provided, that those
garnering more than two percent of the votes shall be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their
total number of votes: provided finally, that each party, organization, or coalition shall be entitled to not
more than three seats.

May 2007 elections proclaimed 13 parties as winners using Veterans ruling, where in a total of
16,723,121 votes those who garnered atleast 2% of the total votes or 334,462 are the winners and are
guaranteed to have 1 seat. Under the rule BUHAY partylist which garnered the most number of votes
designated as the “first party” and additional vote will follow the formula below. Petitioner contends
that in Section 5, Article VI of the constitution states “party list representatives shall constitute twenty
percent of the total number of representatives including those under the partylist and harmonize it with
sec 11 of RA 7941, petitioners now ask this court for relief of the correct interretation and
implementation of RA 7941.
Veteran Ruling
Proportion of votes received Additional seats
by the first party

Equal to or at least 6% Two (2) additional seats

Equal to or greater than 4% but less than 6% One (1) additional seat

Less than 4% No additional seat

Proportion of
“For First Party”
votes of first
Number of votes of first party
= party relative to
total votes for
Total votes for party-list system
party-list system

“For Allocation of additional Seats”

No. of
Additional No. of votes of
X No. of additional seats
additional
seats for concerned party
allocated .seats to first party
a = x
allocated
concerned No. of votes of
to first
party first party
party
Issue: 1. Whether or not the 20% allocation for party list representation in section 5(2), Art VI of the
constitution is mandatory or merely a ceiling

2. is the 2% threshold prescribed in RA 7941 to qualify for one seat constitutional, How shall the
partylist representative seat be allocated?

3. Can major political parties participate in the party-list elections?

Ruling

The petitions have partial merit. We maintain that a Philippine-style party-list election has at least
four inviolable parameters as clearly stated in Veterans. For easy reference, these are:

First, the 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;

Second, the 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;

Third, the 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;

Fourth, proportional representation— the additional seats which a qualified party is entitled to
shall be computed "in proportion to their total number of votes."

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.

Section 5. (1) The House of Representatives shall be composed of not more than two hundred and fifty members, unless
otherwise fixed by law, xxx

(2) The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of representatives including those
under the party-list. xxx

The first paragraph of Section 11 of R.A. No. 7941 reads:

Section 11. Number of Party-List Representatives. — The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum (20%) of the
total number of the members of the House of Representatives including those under the party-list.

Since the 14th Congress of the philippines has 220 district representatives, there are 55 seats available to
party list representatives.

In matters of seat Allocation

RA 7941 Section 11. Number of Party-List Representatives. — x x x

In determining the allocation of seats for the second vote, the following procedure shall be observed:
(a) The parties, organizations, and coalitions shall be ranked from the highest to the lowest based on the
number of votes they garnered during the elections.

(b) The 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: Provided, 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: Provided, finally, That each party, organization, or coalition shall be entitled to not more than
three (3) seats.

The court ruled that the Section 11(b) of RA no. 7941 is unconstitutional, because it is mathematicaly
impossible to achieve the amaximum number of available party list seats, when the available seat
exceeds 50. The court therefore strike down the two percent thresold only for the distribution of
additional seats to present an unwranted obastable to full implementation of Sec 5(2) Article VI of the
constitution

In determining the allocation of seats for party-list representatives under Section 11 of R.A. No.
7941, the following procedure shall be observed:

1. The parties, organizations, and coalitions shall be ranked from the highest to the lowest
based on the number of votes they garnered during the elections.

2. The 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 guaranteed seat each.

3. Those garnering sufficient number of votes, according to the ranking in paragraph 1, shall
be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total number of votes until all the
additional seats are allocated.

4. Each party, organization, or coalition shall be entitled to not more than three (3) seats.

In Matters of participation of Major Political Parties in partylist elections

The Constitutional Commission adopted a multi-party system that allowed all political parties
to participate in the party list elections- in the dialogue between the framers they clearly point out the
want to open up the political system to a pluralistic society, they allowed Major Political parties but
only through their sectoral wing. Neither the constitution nor RA No. 7941 prohibits them from
participating in the party list system, however by a vote of 8-7, the court decided to continue the
ruling in Veterans disallowing them from doing so, directly or diretly