SC junks petition to abolish PET

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has junked with finality the petition of election lawyer Romulo Macalintal seeking the abolition of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), which was supposedly created against the law.

In a 14-page resolution released yesterday, the SC dismissed Macalintal’s motion seeking reconsideration of its ruling on Nov. 23 last year, which held that the creation of the tribunal was within its constitutional power.

The PET was created to resolve electoral protests for the position of president and vice president.

The SC affirmed its earlier ruling that the establishment of the PET is authorized by the last paragraph of Article VII Section 4 of the Constitution and supported by the discussions of the members of the Constitutional Commission.

The constitutional provision states: “The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the elections, returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice-President, and may promulgate its rules for the purpose.”

The SC ruling penned by now retired Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura therefore states: “The power of the PET is a derivative of the plenary judicial power allocated to courts of law, expressly provided for in the Constitution.”

In his motion, Macalintal argued that the members of the PET violate the prohibition in Article VIII Section 12 of the Constitution against members of the SC being designated to any agency performing quasi-judicial or administrative functions.

The SC, however, reiterated that the resolution of electoral contests is essentially an exercise of judicial power.

It noted that though not “strictly and literally speaking” courts of law, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Senate and House electoral tribunals “are, nonetheless, empowered to resolve election contests which involve, in essence, an exercise of judicial power.”

The SC said this is because of the explicit constitutional empowerment found in Article IX-C Section 2(2) (for the Comelec) and Article VI Section 17 (for the Senate and House Electoral tribunals) of the Constitution.

The Court also held that Macalintal’s application of its decision in Biraogo versus Philippine Truth Commission to the present case “is an unmitigated quantum leap.”                      

In Biraogo, the Court held that the creation of the PTC is justified under Article VII Section 17 of the Constitution, which deals with the power of the executive, and not the judicial branch.