ATONG PAGLAUM VS COMELEC G.R. NO.

203766 FACTS: 52 party-list groups and organizations filed separate petitions totaling 54 with the Supreme Court (SC) in an effort to reverse various resolutions by the Commission on Ele tions (Comele ) dis!ualifying them from the "ay 2#$% party-list ra e& 'he Comele ( in its assailed resolutions issued in ) tober( *ovember and +e ember of 2#$2( ruled( among others( that these party-list groups and organizations failed to represent a ,marginalized and underrepresented se tor(- their nominees do not ome from a ,marginalized and underrepresented se tor(- and.or some of the organizations or groups are not truly representative of the se tor they intend to represent in Congress& /etitioners argued that the poll body ommitted grave abuse of dis retion in denying some of the petitioners0 appli ation for a reditation and an elling the e1isting a reditation of the rest& 'hey also lamented the poll body0s ,denial- to a ord them due pro ess in the evaluation pro eedings& 'he high ourt onsolidated these ases2 Senior 3sso iate 4usti e 3ntonio Carpio was tas5ed as the "ember-in- harge of the ase& Status !uo ante orders (S63)) were issued in all 54 petitions whi h restored the status !uo prior to the dis!ualifi ation of petitioners& 7owever( only %8 of the 52 petitioners or only 4$ petitions were able to se ure a mandatory in9un tion( dire ting the Comele to in lude their names in the printing of offi ial ballots& ISSUE: :hether or not C)"E;EC ommitted grave abuse of dis retion in following prevailing de isions of this ourt in dis!ualifying petitioners from parti ipating in the oming $% may 2#$% party-list ele tions HELD: $& 'he ourt hold that the Comele did not ommit grave abuse of dis retion in following prevailing de isions of this ourt in dis!ualifying petitioners from parti ipating in the oming $% may 2#$% party-list ele tions& 7owever( sin e the ourt adopts in this de ision new parameters in the !ualifi ation of national( regional( and se toral parties under the party-list system( thereby abandoning the rulings in the de isions applied by the C)"E;EC in dis!ualifying petitioners( we remand to all the present petitions for the C)"E;EC to determine who are !ualified to register under the party-list system( and to parti ipate in the oming $% may 2#$% party-list ele tions( under the new parameters pres ribed in this de ision&

'he ob9e tive of the party list system under the $8<= onstitution is to demo ratize politi al power by giving politi al parties that annot win in legislative distri t ele tions a han e to win seats in the 7ouse of >epresentatives& Se toral and *on-se toral parties are in luded in the party list system& 'he proof that the party list system is not e1 lusively for se toral parties is Se tion 5(2)( 3rti le ?@ of the $8<= ConstitutionA /oliti al parties an parti ipate in the party-list system ,or as long as they filed andidates who ome from the different marginalized se tors that we shall designate in this onstitution&'hree different groupsA ($) national parties or organizations2 (2) regional parties or organizations2 and (%) se toral parties or organizations "andates that( during the first three onse utive terms of ongress after the ratifi ation of the $8<= onstitution( ,one-half of the seats allo ated to party-list representatives shall be filled( as provided by law( by sele tion or ele tion from the labor( peasant( urban poor( indigenous ultural ommunities( women( youth( and su h other se tors as may be provided by law( e1 ept the religious se tor&-