[ Commonwealth Act No. 666, June 22, 1941 ]
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE FIRST ELECTION FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES, SENATORS, AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND THE AMENDMENTS THEREOF.
Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines:
Section 1. The next election for President and Vice President of the Philippines, Senators, and Members of the House of Representatives, shall be held on the second Tuesday in November, nineteen hundred and forty-one, in accordance with the provisions of this Act and of the Election Code insofar as they may be applicable and are not in conflict with the provisions hereof. The term "national offices" used in the Election Code shall be understood to refer to the office of President and Vice-President of the Philippines, Senators, and Members of the House of Representatives; and the term "Member of the National Assembly; used in the same Code shall be understood to refer to the Member of the House of Representatives.
Section 2. The certificates of candidacy for said election shall be signed and sworn to by the candidates themselves and shall be filed with the Commission on Elections at least seventy-five days before the election.ℒαwρhi৷ The certificate of candidacy of a candidate to an office, the election to which depends on the direct vote of the whole electorate of the Nation, may be filed by the politiical party nominating him for the office without his signature nor his oath.
Any political party having officially nominated candidates for national positions shall file with the Commission on Elections a certificate of such official nominations subscribed under oath by the President and Secretary of corresponding political party.
In case two or more certificates of candidacy for different national offices are filed by different political parties in favor of the same candidate, the certificate of candidacy filed by the party to which said candidate belongs shall prevail, unless the candidate concerned shall decide otherwise. If a candidate who files his own certificate of candidacy for a national office is also nominated by one or more political parties for other national offices, the certificate filed by the candidate himself shall govern.
Any elective provincial, municipal, or city official running for an office, other than the one for which he has been lastly elected, shall be considered resigned from his office from the moment of the filing of his certificate of candidacy.
Section 3. The ballots to be used in this election shall be uniform throughout the Philippines and provided at public expense. Said ballots shall be of white paper and shall bear at the middle the coat of arms of the Commonwealth, the words "Official Ballot," the name of the city or of the municipality and province in which the election is held, the date of the election, and the following notice: Fill out this ballot secretly inside the booth. Do not put any distinctive mark in any part of this ballot.' The ballot shall be prepared in such manner that the voter may vote for a straight party ticket or for individual candidates and for this purpose, the tickets of the regularly organized political parties that participated in the last preceding election for national officials, as certified under oath by the national directorates of the respective parties, shall be printed on the ballot, and there shall also be one column for all elective positions to be filled in said election, which spaces are to be filled by the voter who does not desire to vote a straight ticket. The following notice shall be printed on said ballot: "If you want to vote for all the official candidates of a political party to the exclusion of all other candidates, write the name of such political party in the space indicated. It shall then be unnecessary for you to write the names of the candidates you vote for. On the other had, if you want to vote for candidates belonging to different parties and/or for independent or individual candidates, write the names of the candidates you vote for." There shall not be anything on the reverse side of the ballot. There shall be in the coupon a space for the thumbmark of the voter.
The ballot shall be substantially in the following form:
Section 4. In the reading and appreciation of ballots in making the canvassing, in addition to the rules of appreciation provided for by the Election Code, the boards of inspectors shall observe the following rules:
(a) If a voter has written on his ballot the name of a political party which has nominated official candidates, said ballot shall be deemed as a vote for each and every one of the official candidates of such party for the respective offices.
(b) If a voter should not vote for the straight ticket of a political party but for individual candidates, only the names written in the respective blank spaces of the ballot shall be considered as validly voted for, and the names written outside thereof shall be deemed as not written in the ballot.
(c) If a voter had written in the blank space for President, Vice-President, or Representative the names of two or more registered candidates for the same office in the same space, it shall be deemed that the voter has not cast any vote for the said office.
(d) If a voter had written on the blank space for President, Vice-President, or Representative two or more names, and only one of them is a registered candidate for the office, the vote shall be counted as cast in favor of said registered candidate.
(e) If a voter had written in the blank spaces for senators the names of more than twenty-four registered candidates for such office, the vote shall only be counted as cast in favor of the first twenty-four candidates whose names were written on said blank spaces.
(f) If a voter had voted for the straight ticket of a political party and at the same time he had written on one or more blank spaces the names of the candidates of the same party, said names shall be deemed as not written, and ballot shall be counted only as one vote for each of the candidates on the straight ticket said party.
(g) If a voter had voted for the straight ticket of a political party and at the same time had written on one or more blank spaces of the ballot the names of candidates, said names shall be deemed as not written and the vote shall be counted as cast for each and every one of the official candidates of the party voted for in the ballot.
(h) Votes cast in favor of individual candidates to fill positions not covered in incomplete ticket of the party voted, shall be counted.
Section 5. The provincial or city board of canvassers shall, as son as possible and not later than fifteen days next following the day of the election, canvass all the votes cast in the province or city for the offices of President, Vice-President, Senators, and Members of the House of Representatives, and upon the completion of the canvass, shall make, as the case may be, a statement of all the votes received by each candidate for the offices of President and Vice-President, a statement of all the votes for the office of Senator, and a statement of all the votes for the office of Member of the House of Representatives for each legislative district. Upon the completion of the statements, the board shall, with regard to the election of the Member of the House of Representatives for each legislative district. Upon the completion of the statements, the board shall, with regard to the election of the Member of the House of Representatives, proclaim elected the candidate for each legislative district who has received the largest number of votes therein; but in case two or more candidates for the same district shall have received the same largest number of votes, the board shall proceed in accordance with section one hundred and sixty of the Election Code. With regard to the election of President, Vice-President, and Senators, the board shall merely state and certify the number of votes polled by the candidates for said offices and shall forthwith send by registered mail the corresponding statements to the National Assembly.
Section 6. Thirty days after the election has been held the National Assembly shall meet in session and shall publicly count the votes cast for the offices of President, Vice-President, and Senators. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for President and Vice-President shall be declared elected; but in case two or more shall have received the same largest number of votes for either office one of them shall be chosen President or Vice-President, as the case may be, by a majority vote of all the Members of the National Assembly. The twenty-four persons who obtained the highest number of votes for the office of Senator shall be declared elected.
Section 7. In case it shall appear from the canvass of all votes for Senators that two or more candidates have received the same number of votes, for the twenty-fourth place, the National Assembly, after recording this fact in corresponding statement, shall, upon three days' notice to all the tied candidates so that they may be present if they so desire, hold another session at which it shyall proceed to the drawing of lots of the candidates who have tied and shall proclaim as elected that candidate who may be favored by luck, and the candidate so proclaimed shall have the right to assume office in the same manner as if he had been elected by plurality vote. The National Assembly shall forthwith make a statement of the procedure followed in the drawing of lots, of its result, and of the subsequent proclamation. Certified copies of said statement shall be sent to the Commission on Elections and to each one of the tied candidates.
Section 8. Copies of the statement of the results of the election for the offices of President, Vice-President, Senators, and Members of the House of Representatives shall be made and signed by the members of the provincial or city boards of canvassers present and sealed with the seal of the provincial or city government. A copy of the statement shall be filed by the provincial or city treasurer in his office, another sent immediately by registered mail to the Commission on Elections, another to the National Assembly, and another to each of the respective candidates who received the largest number of votes in the province or city.
Section 9. The Senate shall, within ten days after it shall have been organized with the election of its President, determine by lot which of the elected Senators shall belong to the group who shall serve six years, which to the group who shall serve four years, and which to the group who shall serve two years.
Section 10. Every inspector and poll clerk shall be entitled to a per diem of five pesos for every day of actual service in the meetings of the board, and for the day of the election they shall receive two days' per diem. For his services relative to the holding of any election, the municipal treasurer shall, in addition to his salary, receive a compensation equal to the salary of an inspector on the day of election.
Section 11. The sum of eight hundred thousand pesos, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the expenses of the election provided for in this Act: Provided, That any amount of expenditure necessary for the holding of the said election in excess of the sum herein appropriated shall be advanced from any fund in the Philippine Treasury to be reimbursed in equal installments which shall be provided in the general appropriation acts for the fiscal years nineteen hundred and forty-three, nineteen hundred and forty-four, and nineteen hundred and forty-five.
Section 12. This Act shall take effect upon its approval, and shall govern only the first election for President and Vice President of the Philippines, Senators, and Members of the House of Representatives, under the Constitution of the Philippines and the amendments thereof.
Enacted, without Executive approval, June 22, 1941.
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