EN BANC
G.R. No. L-32432 September 11, 1970
MANUEL B. IMBONG, petitioner,
vs.
JAIME FERRER, as Chairman of the Comelec, LINO M. PATAJO and CESAR MILAFLOR, as members thereof, respondents.
G.R. No. L-32443 September 11, 1970
IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT REGARDING THE VALIDITY OF R.A. No. 6132, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION ACT OF 1970. RAUL M. GONZALES, petitioner,
vs.
COMELEC, respondent.
Manuel B. Imbong in his own behalf.
Raul M. Gonzales in his own behalf.
Office of the Solicitor General Felix Q. Antonio, Acting Assistant Solicitor General Ricardo L. Pronove, Jr., and Solicitors Raul I. Goco, Bernardo P. Pardo, Rosalio A. de Leon, Vicente A. Torres and Guillermo C. Nakar for respondents.
Lorenzo Tañada, Arturo Tolentino, Jovito Salonga and Emmanuel Pelaez as amici curiae.
BARREDO, J., concurring and dissenting:
Without prejudice to a more extended opinion, I vote, in concurrence with the majority, to sustain the validity of the provisions of Republic Act 6132 impugned by petitioners in these cases, except Section 4 and the portion of Section 8(a) referring to political parties. As regards Section 4, I reiterate my separate opinion in the cases of Subido and others. (G.R. Nos. L-32436 and L-32439) With respect to Section 8(a), I hold that the considerations which take the restraint on the freedoms of association, assembly and speech involved in the ban on political parties to nominate and support their own candidates, reasonable and within the limits of the Constitution do not obtain when it comes to civic or non-political organizations. As I see it, the said ban, insofar as civic or non-political organizations are concerned, is a deceptive device to preserve the built-in advantages of political parties while at the same time crippling completely the other kinds of associations. The only way to accomplish the purported objective of the law of equalizing the forces that will campaign in behalf of the candidates to the constitutional convention is to maintain said ban only as against political parties, for after all, only the activities and manners of operation of these parties and/or some of their members have made necessary the imposition thereof. Under the resulting set up embodied in the provision in question, the individual candidates who have never had any political party connections or very little of it would be at an obvious disadvantage unless they are allowed to seek and use the aid of civic organizations. Neither the elaborate provisions of Republic Act 6132 regarding methods of campaign nor its other provisions intended to minimize the participation of political parties in the electorate processes of voting, counting of the votes and canvassing of the results can overcome the advantages of candidates more or less connected with political parties, particularly the major and established ones, as long as the right to form other associations and the right of these associations to campaign for their candidates are denied considering particularly the shortness of the time that is left between now and election day.
The issues involved in the coming elections are grave and fundamental ones that are bound to affect the lives, rights and liberties of all the people of this country most effectively, pervasively and permanently. The only insurance of the people against political parties which may be inclined towards the Establishment and the status quo is to organize themselves to gain much needed strength and effectivity. To deny them this right is to stifle the people's only opportunity for change.ℒαwρhi৷
It is axiomatic that issues, no matter how valid, if not related to particular candidates in an organized way, similarly as in the use of platforms by political parties, cannot have any chance of support and final adoption. Both men and issues are important, but unrelated to each other, each of them alone is insignificant, and the only way to relate them is by organization. Precisely because the issues in this election of candidates are of paramount importance second to none, it is imperative that all of the freedoms enshrined in the constitution should have the ampliest recognition for those who are minded to actively battle for them and any attempt to curtail them would endanger the very purposes for which a new constitutional convention has been conceived.
Consistently with my separate opinion in the case of Gonzales and Cabigao vs. Comelec, G.R. No. L-27833, April 18, 1969 and for the reasons therein stated, I maintain that the right of suffrage which is the cornerstone of any democracy like ours is meaningless when the right to campaign in any election therein is unreasonably and unnecessarily curtailed, restrained or hampered, as is being done under the statute in dispute.
It is, of course, understood that this opinion is based on my considered view, contrary to that of the majority, that as Section 8(a) stands and taking into account its genesis, the ban against political parties is separable from that against other associations within the contemplation of Section 21 of the Act which expressly refers to the separability of the application thereof to any "persons, groups or circumstances."
I reserve my right to expand this explanation of my vote in the next few days.
The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation
