AtongPaglaum,Inc.vsCommissiononElections 4.
Sectoral parties or organizations may either be
This case partially abandoned the rulings in Ang Bagong
Bayani vs COMELEC and BANAT vs COMELEC.
Atong Paglaum, Inc. and 51 other parties were disqualified
by the Commission on Elections in the May 2013 party-list
elections for various reasons but primarily for not being
qualified as representatives for marginalized or
underrepresented sectors.
Atong Paglaum et al then filed a petition for certiorari
against COMELEC alleging grave abuse of discretion on the
part of COMELEC in disqualifying them.
ISSUE: Whether or not the COMELEC committed grave
abuse of discretion in disqualifying the said party-lists.
HELD: No. The COMELEC merely followed the guidelines set
in the cases of Ang Bagong Bayani and BANAT. However,
the Supreme Court remanded the cases back to the
COMELEC as the Supreme Court now provides for new
guidelines which abandoned some principles established in
the two aforestated cases. The new guidelines are as
follows:
I. Parameters. In qualifying party-lists, the COMELEC must
use the following parameters:
1. Three different groups may participate in the party-list
system: (1) national parties or organizations,
(2) regional parties or organizations, and (3) sectoral
parties or organizations.
2. National parties or organizations and regional parties or
organizations do not need to organize along sectoral lines
and do not need to represent any marginalized and
underrepresented sector.
3. Political parties can participate in party-list elections
provided they register under the party-list system and do
not field candidates in legislative district elections. A
political party, whether major or not, that fields candidates
in legislative district elections can participate in party-list
elections only through its sectoral wing that can separately
register under the party-list system. The sectoral wing is by
itself an independent sectoral party, and is linked to a
political party through a coalition.
marginalized and underrepresented or lacking in well-
defined political constituencies. It is enough that their
principal advocacy pertains to the special interest and
concerns of their sector. The sectors that are marginalized
and underrepresented include labor, peasant, fisherfolk,
urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, handicapped,
veterans, and overseas workers. The sectors that lack well-
defined political constituencies include professionals, the
elderly, women, and the youth.
5. A majority of the members of sectoral parties or
organizations that represent the marginalized and
underrepresented must belong to the marginalized and
underrepresented sector they represent. Similarly, a
majority of the members of sectoral parties or organizations
that lack well-defined political constituencies must belong
to the sector they represent. The nominees of sectoral
parties or organizations that represent the marginalized
and underrepresented, or that represent those who lack
well-defined political constituencies, either must belong to
their respective sectors, or must have a track record of
advocacy for their respective sectors. The nominees of
national and regional parties or organizations must be bona-
fide members of such parties or organizations.
6. National, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations
shall not be disqualified if some of their nominees are
disqualified, provided that they have at least one nominee
who remains qualified.
II. In the BANAT case, major political parties are disallowed,
as has always been the practice, from participating in the
party-list elections. But, since theres really no
constitutional prohibition nor a statutory prohibition, major
political parties can now participate in the party-list
system provided that they do so through their bona
fide sectoral wing (see parameter 3 above).
Allowing major political parties to participate, albeit
indirectly, in the party-list elections will encourage them to
work assiduously in extending their constituencies to the
marginalized and underrepresented and to those who
lack well-defined political constituencies.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court gave weight to the
deliberations of the Constitutional Commission when they
were drafting the party-list system provision of the
Constitution. The Commissioners deliberated that it was
their intention to include all parties into the party-list
elections in order to develop a political system which is
pluralistic and multiparty. (In the BANAT case, Justice Puno
emphasized that the will of the people should defeat the
intent of the framers; and that the intent of the people, in
ratifying the 1987 Constitution, is that the party-list system
should be reserved for the marginalized sectors.)
III. The Supreme Court also emphasized that the party-list
system is NOT RESERVED for the marginalized and
underrepresented or for parties who lack well-defined
political constituencies. It is also for national or regional
parties. It is also for small ideology-based and cause-
oriented parties who lack well-defined political
constituencies. The common denominator however is that
all of them cannot, they do not have the machinery unlike
major political parties, to field or sponsor candidates in the
legislative districts but they can acquire the needed votes in
a national election system like the party-list system of
elections.
If the party-list system is only reserved for
marginalized representation, then the system itself unduly
excludes other cause-oriented groups from running for a
seat in the lower house.
As explained by the Supreme Court, party-list
representation should not be understood to include
only labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous
cultural communities, handicapped, veterans, overseas
workers, and other sectors that by their nature
are economically at the margins of society. It should be
noted that Section 5 of Republic Act 7941 includes, among
others, in its provision for sectoral representation groups of
professionals, which are not per se economically
marginalized but are still qualified as marginalized,
underrepresented, and do not have well-defined political
constituencies as they are ideologically marginalized.