EN BANC

[G.R. No. 207134. June 16, 2015.]

AKSYON MAGSASAKA-PARTIDO TINIG NG MASA (AKMA-PTM) , petitioner,

vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS , respondent,

ABANTE KATUTUBO (ABANTE KA), FROILAN M. BACUNGAN and

HERMENEGILDO DUMLAO, petitioners-in-intervention.

DECISION

VILLARAMA, JR. , J : p

Before us is a petition 1 for certiorari and mandamus under Rule 65 in relation to Rule 64
of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, with prayer for injunctive reliefs, assailing the
respondent Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for alleged grave abuse of discretion in
prematurely and erroneously allocating additional seats to certain party-list groups proclaimed
as initial winners in the 2013 automated elections.
The Antecedents
Petitioner was among the accredited candidates for party-list representative during the
national and local elections held on May 13, 2013. cSEDTC

On May 24, 2013, the COMELEC En Banc sitting as the National Board of Canvassers
(NBOC), under NBOC Resolution No. 0006-13, proclaimed fourteen (14) party-list groups, which
obtained at least 2% of the total votes cast for the party-list system and were thus entitled to
one (1) guaranteed seat each, pursuant to Section 11 of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7941. 2
On May 28, 2013, COMELEC promulgated the assailed NBOC Resolution No. 0008-13, 3
which is hereunder reproduced:
IN THE MATTER OF THE xxxx
PROCLAMATION OF
ADDITIONAL WINNING
PARTY-LIST GROUPS,
ORGANIZATIONS AND
COALITIONS IN CONNECTION
WITH THE MAY 13, 2013
AUTOMATED NATIONAL AND
LOCAL ELECTIONS.

Promulgated: May 28, 2013

NBOC RESOLUTION NO. 0008-13
WHEREAS , the Commission on Elections, sitting en banc as the National Board
of Canvassers (NBOC) for the election of Senators of the Republic of the Philippines and
Party-List representatives, had, as of May 28, 2013, o cially canvassed, in open and
public proceedings, the votes for the Party-List System of Representation in connection
with the May 13, 2013 automated national and local elections;
WHEREAS , on May 24, 2013, the NBOC issued Resolution No. 0006-13 partially
proclaiming fourteen (14) party-list groups as initial winners in the party-list election of
May 13, 2013 elections, without prejudice to the allocation of additional seats or the
proclamation of other parties, organizations, or coalitions which may later on be
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 established to be entitled to one guaranteed seat and/or additional seat;
WHEREAS , the Commission on Elections, in its Resolution of May 24, 2013 in
SPP Cases Numbered 12-157 (PLM); 12-191 (PLM); 12-185 (PLM); 12-238 (PLM); 12-228
(PLM); and 12-202 (PLM), and also in its Resolution of May 27, 2013 in SPP Cases
Numbered 12-161 (PLM); 12-263 (PLM); 12-292 (PLM); 12-256 (PLM); 12-229 (PLM); and
12-272 (PLM) considered the cancellation of registration of the following party-list
groups as final and executory:
NAME OF PARTY-LIST ACRONYM VOTES
GARNERED

1 Coalition of Associations of Senior SENIOR 677,642

Citizens in the Philippines, Inc. CITIZENS
2 Alliance for Nationalism and ANAD 200,972
Democracy
3 Abang Lingkod Party-List ABANG- 260,215
LINGKOD
4 Binhi Partido ng mga Magsasaka BINHI 185,537
Para sa mga Magsasaka
5 Cocofed-Philippine Coconut COCOFED 103,393
Producers Federation, Inc.
6 Atong Paglaum, Inc. ATONG 95,467
PAGLAUM
7 Kaagapay ng Nagkakaisang KAP 57,104
Agilang Pilipinong Magsasaka
8 Aagapay ng Indigenous People A-IPRA 28,240
Rights Alliance, Inc.
9 Ang Galing Pinoy AG 4,252
10 The True Marcos Loyalist (For God, BANTAY 113,798
Country & People) Association of
the Philippines, Inc.
11 Social Movement for Active SMART 83,033
Reform and Transparency
–––––––––
TOTAL 1,809,653
========

WHEREAS , the total votes cast for the abovementioned party-list are considered
"stray" and as such will not be included in the total votes cast for party-list;
WHEREAS , on the basis of Party-List Canvass Report No. 10, there is a total of
26,722,131 votes cast for party-list;
WHEREAS , there are fifty-eight (58) available seats for party-list;
WHEREAS , in view of the remaining uncanvassed results and special elections in
some areas, not all of the fty-eight (58) available party-list can be allocated in order not
to prejudice the proclamation of other parties, organizations, or coalitions which may
later on be established to be entitled to a seat or additional seats;
NOW, THEREFORE , by virtue of the powers vested in it under the Constitution,
the Omnibus Election Code (Batas Pambansa Blg. 881), Republic Acts Numbered 9369,
8436, 7941, 7166, 6646, and other election laws, the Commission on Elections sitting en
banc as the National Board of Canvassers for Party-List, RESOLVED , as it hereby
RESOLVES , to PROCLAIM the following party-list groups as initial winners in the party
list elections of May 13, 2013, involving a total of fty-three (53) guaranteed and/or
additional seats, without prejudice to the proclamation of other parties, organizations or
coalitions which may later on be established to be entitled to one guaranteed seat and/or
additional seat:
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 PARTY-LIST GRAND PERCENTAGE Guaranteed Additional Total
GROUP TOTAL (%) OF VOTES Seat Seat (2nd Seats
28-May GARNERED round)
1:52AM

BUHAY 1,265,992 4.74 1 2 3

A TEACHER 1,040,898 3.90 1 1 2
BAYAN 952,767 3.57 1 1 2
MUNA
I-CARE 933,831 3.49 1 1 2
AKBAYAN 827,405 3.10 1 1 2
ABONO 767,645 2.87 1 1 2
AKB 763,103 2.86 1 1 2
OFW
FAMILY 750,753 2.81 1 1 2
GABRIELA 713,492 2.67 1 1 2
COOP- 641,355 2.40 1 1 2
NATCCO
AGAP 592,069 2.22 1 1 2
CIBAC 583,768 2.18 1 1 2
MAGDALO 565,883 2.12 1 1 2
AN WARAY 540,906 2.02 1 1 2
ABAMIN 465,989 1.74 1 1
ACT 453,491 1.70 1 1
TEACHERS
BUTIL 438,601 1.64 1 1
AMIN 376,932 1.41 1 1
ACT-CIS 376,175 1.41 1 1
KALINGA 371,610 1.39 1 1
LPGMA 370,360 1.39 1 1
TUCP 368,883 1.38 1 1
YACAP 366,340 1.37 1 1
AGRI 365,516 1.37 1 1
ANGKLA 360,138 1.35 1 1
ABS 358,693 1.34 1 1
DIWA 341,443 1.28 1 1
KABATAAN 340,573 1.27 1 1
ANAK 321,110 1.20 1 1
PAWIS
ALAY 316,947 1.19 1 1
BUHAY
AAMBIS- 311,725 1.17 1 1
OWA
1-SAGIP 287,060 1.07 1 1
AVE 270,159 1.01 1 1
ATING 267,452 1.00 1 1
KOOP
1-BAP 245,237 0.92 1 1
ABAKADA 243,994 0.91 1 1
AMA 243,551 0.91 1 1
ANG NARS 242,835 0.91 1 1

SO ORDERED.
(SGD.)
SIXTO S. BRILLANTES, JR.
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 Chairman
(SGD.) (SGD.)
LUCENITO N. TAGLE ELIAS R. YUSOPH
Member Member

(SGD.) (SGD.)
CHRISTIAN ROBERT S. LIM MARIA GRACIA CIELO M. PADACA
Member Member

(On Official Business) (SGD.)

AL A. PARRENO LUIE TITO F. GUIA
Member Member

The petition was led with this Court on May 30, 2013. The Court did not issue a
temporary restraining order. Subsequently, the Court admitted the petition-in-intervention 4 led
by Abante Katutubo (ABANTE KA), Froilan M. Bacungan and Hermenegildo Dumlao who claim
to have "demonstrable, legal, moral and compelling interest in the outcome of the case and the
controversy." 5 AaCTcI

Petitioner's Arguments
Petitioner contends that COMELEC's allocation of additional seats for those two-
percenters and 38 other groups proclaimed as initial winners greatly prejudiced its interest and
those other parties or organizations as potential winners. It points out that the proclamation of
initial winners with additional seats on the second round was hasty and premature because at
the time the canvassing for party-list was still ongoing, there were still uncanvassed and
untransmitted results from Mindanao, as well as uncanvassed overseas and local absentee
votes, and the results from special elections in several areas of the country had yet to be
transmitted. Attached to the petition is a copy of Canvass Report No. 8, 6 COMELEC's Tally
Sheet showing that as of May 23, 2013 petitioner had garnered 155,131 votes.
The projected gures of COMELEC such as the maximum total votes cast for party-list
were also assailed as di cult and impractical, considering that, unlike in the May 10, 2010
elections there existed a considerable number of untransmitted results due to the breakdown,
malfunctioning or glitches of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines during the May
13, 2013 elections, a fact well-reported in the papers. Petitioner asserts that the proclamation
of initial winners for party-list groups with additional seats was invalid, as it was based on an
incomplete canvass/consolidation of only 110 Certi cates of Canvass (COCs), some of which
were not electronically transmitted in gross violation of Section 27, R.A. No. 8436 (as amended
by Section 22, R.A. No. 9369). National Canvass Report No. 10 7 likewise did not state the total
votes cast for party-list. 8
Petitioner further argues that the allocation of additional seats did not conform to
Section 11 of R.A. No. 7941 and this Court's ruling in Barangay Association for National
Advancement and Transparency (BANAT) v. COMELEC. 9 It points out that the product of the
percentage of votes obtained by the party-list group multiplied by the additional seats available
is not an integer , such as the following gures found in the Table of party-list groups allocated
with additional seats: 0.961, 0.932, 0.89, etc. Consequently, COMELEC seriously erred in
computing the values and interpreting the results in the second round leading to the invalid and
unjust allocation of additional seats to the two-percenters to the prejudice of other party-list
groups such as petitioner.
Petitioners-in-intervention's Arguments
Petitioners-in-intervention join petitioner in the foregoing arguments. It reiterates the rule
that an incomplete canvass of votes is illegal and cannot be the basis of a proclamation, citing
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 Utto v. COMELEC . 10 In this case, only 110 out of 301 COCs had been canvassed or reported
when COMELEC proclaimed the party-list winners. Like petitioner, the petitioners-in-intervention
deplore the COMELEC's alleged lack of transparency in the factual basis of the party-list
election results. The proclamation of initial winners despite the incomplete canvass
contravened Section 231 of the Omnibus Election Code requiring a COC to be prepared by the
Board of Canvassers "supported by a statement of the votes received by each candidate in
each polling place," 11 Section 21 of R.A. No. 8436 requiring a completed canvass as a condition
sine qua non to the printing of COCs, and therefore, proclamation of the elected o cials; and
Section 28 of the General Instructions for Special Board of Canvassers in the May 13, 2013
elections (COMELEC Resolution No. 9648), mandating the receipt and consolidation of "all
expected" results from the precincts, municipalities, cities or provinces as the case may be, to
generate and print COCs.
On the alleged irregularities or malfunctioning of the PCOS machines, petitioners-in-
intervention expressed concern that up to now, there is still no acceptable guarantee that the
scanners or PCOS machines read the votes in the ballots fed to them and that these were
counted properly. It points out that Smartmatic, Inc., which provided the PCOS machines, did
away with the security features provided under the Automated Election System law (R.A. No.
9369), which issue is the subject of a petition led in this Court by civil society groups (G.R. No.
201413).
Another problem for COMELEC, according to petitioners-in-intervention, is the matter of
disquali ed party-list candidates, like the Atong Paglaum consolidated cases which have been
ordered remanded by this Court for determination of their bona de status under the new
guidelines set in this Court's decision. In any event, petitioners-in-intervention believe that
ABANTE KA and AKMA-PTM would get enough votes since AKMA-PTM had 155,090 votes and
ABANTE KA had 110,690 votes as re ected in National Canvass Report. 12 They both wanted to
know what happened to their votes and this Court should compel COMELEC to answer this
question.
The Solicitor General's Comment
In his Consolidated Comment, 13 the Solicitor General asserts that COMELEC faithfully
adhered to the procedure prescribed in BANAT in the allocation of party-list seats (14
guaranteed seats were rst allocated to those who obtained 2% of the total votes cast for
party-list and thereafter 44 additional seats were completely distributed). It was explained that
party-list groups with products of less than one were still allocated seats depending on their
rank and availability of seats. As to the uncanvassed votes at the time, COMELEC had reserved
ve "buffer" seats to accommodate possible changes in the ranking. Three of these "buffer"
seats were distributed to ANAC-IP, AGBIAG! and APPEND, while the other two seats were
reserved pursuant to this Court's directive in Senior Citizen's Party-List v. COMELEC. 14
The Solicitor General further contends that COMELEC's proclamation of initial winners
under NBOC Res. No. 0008-13 is valid as the votes yet to be canvassed did not materially affect
the results of the election. He cites the National Canvass Report No. 11 15 (as of July 18, 2013)
re ecting a very minimal change in the ranking of party-list groups. The grand total of votes
garnered by AKMA-PTM and ABANTE KA were 165,784 (0.58%) and 111,625 (0.39%),
respectively, still insufficient to be entitled to an additional seat in the second round.
Issue
The sole issue to be addressed is whether the COMELEC gravely abused its discretion in
allocating the additional seats for the 38 party-list candidates proclaimed as winners in the May
13, 2013 elections.
Our Ruling
We dismiss the petition and petition-in-intervention.
COMELEC is authorized by law to
proclaim winning candidates if the
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 remaining uncanvassed election
returns will not affect the result of
the elections
An incomplete canvass of votes is illegal and cannot be the basis of a subsequent
proclamation. A canvass is not re ective of the true vote of the electorate unless the board of
canvassers considers all returns and omits none. However, this is true only where the election
returns missing or not counted will affect the results of the election. 16 EcTCAD

Section 233 of the Omnibus Election Code authorizes the board of canvassers to
proclaim winning candidates in cases of delayed or lost election returns if the missing returns
will not affect the results of the election. Said provision reads:
SEC. 233. When the election returns are delayed, lost or destroyed. — . . . The
board of canvassers, notwithstanding the fact that not all the election returns have been
received by it, may terminate the canvass and proclaim the candidates elected on the
basis of the available election returns if the missing election returns will not affect the
results of the election.
In Barbers v. COMELEC 17 we dismissed a petition to annul the NBOC resolutions
a rming the proclamation of COMELEC declaring Rodolfo G. Biazon (Biazon) as the duly
elected 12th Senator in the May 10, 2004 national and local elections. On petitioner's argument
that the proclamation was premature and void, we ruled that COMELEC did not commit grave
abuse of discretion since the uncanvassed returns and the results of the special elections to be
held would not materially affect the results of the elections.
In this case, COMELEC based its ruling on its national canvass reports for party-list. As of
May 28, 2013, AKMA-PTM garnered 164,980 votes and ABANTE KA had 111,429 votes. In
Party-List Canvass Report No. 11 as of July 18, 2013, AKMA-PTM's total votes slightly
increased to 165,784 votes while ABANTE KA had a total of 111,625 votes. There was no
signi cant change in the rankings as per the latest canvass and therefore COMELEC had
su cient basis for proclaiming the initial winners on May 28, 2013 and reserving only ve
buffer seats.
On the alleged irregularities and glitches in the PCOS machines resulting in non-
transmittal of election returns, no competent evidence had been presented by petitioner in
support of its allegations. It is a basic rule in evidence that each party must prove his
affirmative allegation, 18 and that mere allegation is not evidence. 19
Moreover, the factual question of the number of still uncanvassed votes at the time of the
proclamation of initial winners should have been raised before the COMELEC because this
Court is not a trier of facts. 20 On the basis of its o cial records, COMELEC had made a
determination that the remaining uncanvassed votes will no longer materially affect the result of
the party-list elections and that the ve buffer seats were su cient to accommodate additional
winners. The COMELEC enjoys the presumption of good faith and regularity in the performance
of official duty. 21
COMELEC's allocation of additional
seats for party-list in accordance
with our ruling in BA NAT
Section 12 of R.A. No. 7941 provides for the procedure in allocating seats for the party-
list system:
SEC. 12. Procedure in Allocating Seats for Party-List Representatives. — The
COMELEC shall tally all the votes for the parties, organizations, or coalitions on a
nationwide basis, rank them according to the number of votes received and allocate
party-list representatives proportionately according to the percentage of votes obtained
by each party, organization, or coalition as against the total nationwide votes cast for the
party-list system.
In BANAT v. COMELEC , 22 we laid down the following procedure in determining the
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 allocation of seats for party-list representatives under Section 11 of R.A. No. 7941:
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 su cient 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.
As to the allocation of additional seats on the second round, after deducting the
guaranteed one seat each, for those who obtained 2% of the total votes cast for party-list, from
the number of available party-list seats, we further held in BANAT that —
In computing the additional seats, the guaranteed seats shall no longer be
included because they have already been allocated, at one seat each, to every two-
percenter. Thus, the remaining available seats for allocation as "additional seats" are the
maximum seats reserved under the Party List System less the guaranteed seats.
Fractional seats are disregarded in the absence of a provision in R.A. No. 7941 allowing
for a rounding off of fractional seats.
In declaring the two percent threshold unconstitutional, we do not limit our
allocation of additional seats in Table 3 below to the two-percenters. The percentage of
votes garnered by each party-list candidate is arrived at by dividing the number of votes
garnered by each party by 15,950,900, the total number of votes cast for party-list
candidates. There are two steps in the second round of seat allocation. First,
the percentage is multiplied by the remaining available seats, 38, which is the
difference between the 55 maximum seats reserved under the Party-List
System and the 17 guaranteed seats of the two-percenters. The whole integer
of the product of the percentage and of the remaining available seats
corresponds to a party's share in the remaining available seats. Second, we
assign one party-list seat to each of the parties next in rank until all available
seats are completely distributed . We distributed all of the remaining 38 seats
in the second round of seat allocation . Finally, we apply the three-seat cap to
determine the number of seats each qualified party-list candidate is entitled. Thus:
Table 3. Distribution of Available Party-List Seats
Votes Guaranteed Additional (B) plus Applying
Garnered Seat Seats (C), in the three
over Total whole seat cap
Rank Party Votes Votes for integers
Garnered Party List, (First (Second
in % Round) Round)
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

1 BUHAY 1,169,234 7.33% 1 2.79 3 N.A.

2 BAYAN 979,039 6.14% 1 2.33 3 N.A.
MUNA
3 CIBAC 755,686 4.74% 1 1.80 2 N.A.
4 GABRIELA 621,171 3.89% 1 1.48 2 N.A.
5 APEC 619,657 3.88% 1 1.48 2 N.A.
6 A Teacher 490,379 3.07% 1 1.17 2 N.A.
7 AKBAYAN 466,112 2.92% 1 1.11 2 N.A.
8 ALAGAD 423,149 2.65% 1 1.01 2 N.A.
9* COOP- 409,883 2.57% 1 1 2 N.A.
NATCCO
10 BUTIL 409,160 2.57% 1 1 2 N.A.
11 BATAS 385,810 2.42% 1 1 2 N.A.
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 12 ARC 374,288 2.35% 1 1 2 N.A.
13 ANAKPAWIS 370,261 2.32% 1 1 2 N.A.
14 ABONO 339,990 2.13% 1 1 2 N.A.
15 AMIN 338,185 2.12% 1 1 2 N.A.
16 AGAP 328,724 2.06% 1 1 2 N.A.
17 AN WARAY 321,503 2.02% 1 1 2 N.A.
18 YACAP 310,889 1.95% 0 1 1 N.A.
19 FPJPM 300,923 1.89% 0 1 1 N.A.
20 UNI-MAD 245,382 1.54% 0 1 1 N.A.
21 ABS 235,086 1.47% 0 1 1 N.A.
22 KAKUSA 228,999 1.44% 0 1 1 N.A.
23 KABATAAN 228,637 1.43% 0 1 1 N.A.
24 ABA-AKO 218,818 1.37% 0 1 1 N.A.
25 ALIF 217,822 1.37% 0 1 1 N.A.
26 SENIOR 213,058 1.34% 0 1 1 N.A.
CITIZENS
27 AT 197,872 1.24% 0 1 1 N.A.
28 VFP 196,266 1.23% 0 1 1 N.A.
29 ANAD 188,521 1.18% 0 1 1 N.A.
30 BANAT 177,028 1.11% 0 1 1 N.A.
31 ANG 170,531 1.07% 0 1 1 N.A.
KASANGGA
32 BANTAY 169,801 1.06% 0 1 1 N.A.
33 ABAKADA 166,747 1.05% 0 1 1 N.A.
34 1-UTAK 164,980 1.03% 0 1 1 N.A.
35 TUCP 162,647 1.02% 0 1 1 N.A.
36 COCOFED 155,920 0.98% 0 1 1 N.A.
____ ____
Total 17 55
=== ===

* The product of the percentage and the remaining available seats of all parties ranked nine and below is less
than one.

Applying the procedure of seat allocation as illustrated in Table 3 above, there are
55 party-list representatives from the 36 winning party-list organizations. All 55 available
party-list seats are lled. The additional seats allocated to the parties with su cient
number of votes for one whole seat, in no case to exceed a total of three seats for each
party, are shown in column (D). 23 (Emphasis and underscoring supplied)
It is clear from the foregoing that party-list groups garnering less than 2% of the party-list
votes may yet qualify for a seat in the allocation of additional seats depending on their ranking
in the second round. As shown in Table 3, it was noted that the product of the percentage and
the remaining available seats of all parties ranked 9 and below is less than one. This con icts
with the interpretation of petitioner that those party-list groups with product of the percentage
less than one, and hence not an integer, are not entitled to one seat in the allocation of
additional seats. Indeed, following petitioner's interpretation would result in the remaining
party-list seats not being lled up. For that same reason, BANAT declared unconstitutional the
continued operation of the two-percent threshold, as it was deemed "an unwarranted obstacle
to the full implementation of Section 5 (2), Article VI of the Constitution and prevents the
attainment of the 'broadest possible representation of party, sectoral or group interests in the
House of Representatives.'" 24 Apparently, petitioner mistakenly assumed that the statement in
BANAT disallowing fractional seats insofar as the additional seats for the two-percenters in the
second round should also apply to those party-list groups with less than 2% votes. But as
demonstrated in BANAT , the 20% share in representation may never be lled up if the 2%
threshold is maintained. In the same vein, the maximum representation will not be achieved if
those party-list groups obtaining less than one percentage are disquali ed from even one
additional seat in the second round.
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 In sum, we hold that COMELEC did not commit grave abuse of discretion in allocating the
party-list seats in the 2013 elections and proclaiming the winners after distributing the
guaranteed and additional seats in accordance with our ruling in BANAT.
WHEREFORE , the petition and petition-in-intervention are both DISMISSED for lack of
merit. AScHCD

No pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED .
Sereno, C.J., Carpio, Velasco, Jr., Leonardo-de Castro, Brion, Bersamin, Del Castillo, Perez,
Mendoza, Reyes and Perlas-Bernabe, JJ., concur.
Peralta and Leonen, JJ., are on official leave.
Jardeleza, J., took no part.
Footnotes
* On official leave.
** No Part.
1. Rollo, pp. 3-10.
2. AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ELECTION OF PARTY-LIST REPRESENTATIVES THROUGH THE
PARTY-LIST SYSTEM, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, approved on March 3, 1995.
3. Rollo, pp. 12-14.
4. Id. at 59-70.
5. Id. at 59.
6. Id. at 15-19.
7. Id. at 126-127.
8. Id. at 155.
9. 604 Phil. 131 (2009).
10. 426 Phil. 225, 241 (2002).
11. Rollo, p. 62.
12. Id. at 72-77.
13. Id. at 108-117.
14. G.R. Nos. 206844-45 & 206982, Resolution dated June 5, 2013.
15. Rollo, pp. 128-137.
16. Caruncho III v. Commission on Elections , 374 Phil. 308, 324 (1999), citing Samad v. Commission
on Elections, G.R. Nos. 107854 & 108642, July 16, 1993, 224 SCRA 631, 642-643; Tiglao v.
Commission on Elections, No. L-31566, February 18, 1970, 31 SCRA 719, 729; Mutuc v.
Commission on Elections, 130 Phil. 663, 669 (1968); Dema les v. Commission on Elections ,
129 Phil. 792, 799 (1967); Duremdes v. Commission on Elections , 258-A Phil. 532, 546 (1989)
further citing Sinsuat v. Pendatun, 144 Phil. 729 (1970).
17. 499 Phil. 570 (2005).
18. Aklan Electric Cooperative Inc. v. National Labor Relations Commission, 380 Phil. 225, 245 (2000).
19. Luxuria Homes, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, 361 Phil. 989, 1000 (1999).

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 20. See Caruncho III v. Commission on Elections, supra note 16, at 322-323.
21. Barbers v. COMELEC, supra note 17, at 588.
22. Supra note 9, at 162.
23. Id. at 162-165.
24. Id. at 162.

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