NICANOR D. YÑIGUEZ, PETITIONER, VS. THE HONORABLE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, RESPONDENT.

Republic Act. No. 5777, creating the municipality
of Tomas Oppus,
province of Southern Leyte, and approved on June 21, 1969, provides in Section 3
that “the first mayor, vice-mayor and councilors of the municipality shall
be elected in the next general elections.”

On September 11, 1969 the Commission on Elections promulgated a
resolution, number RR-651, authorizing the holding of special elections,
simultaneously with the national elections on November 11, 1969, to fill the
posi­tions of local elective officials in nine (9) newly-created municipalities
in different provinces pursuant to
Section 9 of the Decentralization Act of 1967 (R. A. No. 5185), which
provides:

“SEC. 9. Filling of Elective Offices
in Newly Created Provinces, Cities, Municipalities or Municipal Districts.- Elective offices in any new province, city, municipality
or municipal district shall be filled by regular or special election to
coincide with the next regular presidential or local election:  Provided, That if it is created within thirty
days before a regular presidential or local election, the said vacancies shall
be filled as hereinafter pro­vided in the next succeeding section.”

The municipality of Tomas Oppus was not
one of those enumerated in the aforesaid resolution, However, the Law Division
of the Commission on Elections, purportedly in conformity with the tenor
thereof, took steps for the election of the local officials of the said
municipality also on November 11, 1969, by ordering the printing of the
required ballots and election forms and sending the corresponding notices to
the provincial officials of Southern Leyte and the
other officials concerned.  The steps
thus taken by the Law Division were confirmed by the Commission itself on October 14, 1969.

In the meantime Hon. Nicanor E. Yñiguez, Congressman from Southern Leyte
and sponsor of the bill which became Republic Act No. 5777, sent a letter to
the Commission on October 6, 1969, advising the latter that the intention of
said law was “for the municipal officials (of Tomas Oppus)
to be elected during the regular local elections in 1971,” and asking that
the election scheduled by the Commission be deferred accordingly.  The request was denied by the Commission in
the same session it held to confirm the action of its Law Division on October 14, 1969, and a subsequent
motion for reconsideration by Congressman Yñiguez was
like­wise denied by resolution dated October
21, 1969.

The instant petition for review, with an implied prayer that it
be considered as a special civil action for certiorari, prohibition and
mandamus, was filed by Congress­man Yñiguez on
October 28, 1969, alleging lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of the
Commission on Elections and asking that its resolutions of October 14 and 21 be
declared null and void and that it be prohibited from call­ing or holding a
special election on November 11, 1969, for the positions of mayor, vice-mayor
and councilors in the newly-created municipality of Tomas Oppus.

Respondent Commission filed its answer to the petition and the
case was heard by this Court on oral argument on November 3, 1969, after which it was submitted for
decision.

The focal point of our inquiry is the meaning and intent of
Section 3 of Republic Act No. 5777, which says that “the first mayor,
vice-mayor and councilors shall be elected in the next general elections.”
The stand of respondent Commission is that since the presidential elec­tion
on November 11, 1969, wherein the President, the Vice-President, eight of the
twenty-four Senators and all the Congressmen are to be chosen by the
electorate, is a general election, this is the one referred to in Republic Act
No. 5777, being “next” to its approval on June 21, 1969.  Re­liance is also placed by the Commission on
Section 9 of the Decentralization Act of 1967, which as already pointed out
provides that “elective offices in any new…municipality …shall be
filled by regular or special elections to coin­cide with the next regular
presidential or local election.”

It is our opinion that the foregoing interpretation is not
justified.

1.     
The fact that general elections in
the Philippines
are staggered every two years – one for national offices and another for local
offices (in provinces, municipalities and chartered cities) – rules out the
conclusion that the term “next general elections” used in the Act
necessarily means the very first general election following the enactment. 
The more reasonable interpretation is that the reference is to the
general election for local officials, since the offices to be filled are local
and not national in nature.

2.     
This is the same interpretation given in American
decisions.  In Words and Phrases, Vol.
28A, Permanent Edi­tion, we find on page 205:

“The phrase “next general election,” as used in
Wilson’s Rev. & Ann. St. 1903, sec. 3750, 51 Okl.
St. Ann. sec. 10, which provides
that a person appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve until the next general
election, means the next regular election at which that particular class of
officers is to be chosen.  Wainwright v. Fore, 97 P. 831, 833, 22 Okl.
387.

“Next general election,” within constitutional provision
requiring appointee, appointed to fill vacancy in elective office, to hold
until next general election, means next general election at which vacancy may
legally be filled, not necessarily next ensuing general election.  I.C.A. Const. art. 4, sec. 10; art. 11, sec. S. State ex rel.
Halback v. Claussen 250 N.
195, 216 Iowa, 1079.

x x x                 x x x

Const, art. 5, sec. 37, provides
that vacancies in the elective offices shall be filled by appointment until the
“next general election.” Held, that the
phrase “next general election” meant the next election at which it is
provided by law that the officer may be elected whose office has become
vacant.  State v.
Gardner, 54 N.W. 606, 607, 3 S.D. 553; People v. Col, 64 P. 477, 478, 132
Cal. 334.

x x x                 x x x

x x x                 x x x

x x x                 x x x

The term “next general election,” as used in Laws 1905,
p. 18, sec. 10, providing that
all officers appointed by the act should hold their respective offices until
after the “next general election,” so far as the office of clerk of
the district court is concerned, means the “next general election”
held to fill that office in the judicial district, and a person holding such
office is not ousted by the
election of a successor at a
general election called by the Governor
for the election of other officers than clerk of the district
court.  State ex rel.
Livesay v. Smith, 90 P. 750, 751, 35 Mont.
523, 10 Ann. Cas.
1138.”

3. Respondent Commission itself has adopted the same
interpretation in another case of similar nature, concerning the election of
the provincial officials of Southern Leyte
after its creation as a separate province (Case No. 369, Resolution promulgated
May 30, 1961).  The Commission there
said:

“‘Regular election next following the effectivity
of this Act’ used in Sec. 4 of Rep. Act No. 2227 refers to the regular election
for provincial and local officials.

Case: By virtue of Republic Act No. 2227, approved on May 2, 1959, the province
of Southern Leyte
was created; began its corporate existence as such on July 1, 1960, with the appointment and
qualification of its provincial officials. 
Section 4 of Republic Act No. 2227 pro­vides that said officials ‘shall
hold office until their successors shall have been elec­ted in the regular
election next following the effectivity of this Act.’
The question now is whether or not election for the offices of provincial governor, vice-governor and members of
the provincial board of the province
of Southern Leyte
will be held on November 14, 1961,
simultaneously with the election for President, Vice-President, Senators, and
Congressmen.

Ruling: It is plain that the phrase ‘regular election next
following the effectivity of this Act’ used in Sec. 4
of Republic Act No. 2227 refers to the regular election for provin­cial and
local officials which will be held in November, 1963, and not to the coming
regular election for national officials on November 14, 1961.

The phrase in question is also explained by the context of the law
taken as a whole wherein it is used.  Said
Section 4 treats of provincial offices, and, therefore, when it speaks of
regular election to fill said offices, it can only refer to the regular
election for provincial offices, considering that the Re­vised Election Code,
in Section 7 thereof, entitled ‘Regular elections for provincial, city,
municipal and municipal district offices,-‘ specifically provides for a
separate regular election for provincial offices distinct from that set in
Section 6 entitled ‘Regular elections for national offices.’

4. In the course of the hearing of this petition counsel for
respondent Commission argued that its ruling in the Southern Leyte
case has no application herein in view of
the supervening enactment of the Decentralization
Act, particularly Section 9.  We
do not see that this Act should
compel a different ruling.  It may be
noted that Section 9 provides for
two ways to fill elective offices in a
newly created municipality: by regular or
special election to coincide with the next regular presidential or local election.  Obviously if the next regular election is a local one, there need be
no special election to fill such
offices.  The election for that purpose is considered also
“regular.” However, if the next regular election is presidential, then the election “to coincide”
with it in order to fill such
local offices necessarily has to be a special
one.  But Act No. 5777 does not provide
for, and evidently does not
contemplate, the holding of a special election. 
What it does say is that the first mayor, vice-mayor and councilors
shall be elected in the next general elections.

5.     
The cases of the nine newly
created municipalities where respondent Commission on Elections has called
special elections for November 11, 1969 to fill the corresponding municipal
offices (Res. No. RR-651, Sept.
11, 1969) are quite
revealing.  The pertinent provisions of
the different laws creating the said municipalities are quoted in the answer of
the Commission and herein reproduced as follows:

“1. R.A. 5500, creating Biri, Northern
Samar:

“Sec. 2. The first mayor, vice-mayor,
and councilors of the new municipality shall-be elected in the next general
elections in November, nineteen hundred and sixty-nine.”

2. R.A. 5460 – Rizal, Occ. Mindoro:

“Sec. 2. The first mayor, vice-mayor
and councilors of the new municipality shall be elected in a special election
to be held simultaneously with the general elections of nineteen hundred
and sixty-nine. x x.”

3.
R.A. 5459 – Magsaysay, Occ.
Mindoro:

“Sec. 2. The first mayor, vice-mayor
and councilors of the new municipality shall be elected in a special election
to be held si­multaneously with
the general elections of nineteen hundred and sixty-nine. x x.”

4. R.A. 5645 – Alamada, Cotabato:

“Sec. 2. The first mayor, vice-mayor, and councilors of the new
municipality shall be elected in a special elections
to coincide with the presidential elections in November of nineteen
hundred and sixty-nine.”

5. R.A. 5511 – Bingawan, Iloilo:

“Sec. 2. The first mayor, vice-mayor and councilors of the new
municipality shall be elected in a special elections
of nineteen hundred and sixty-nine. x x .”

6. R.A. 5522 – Malungon, So. Cotabato:

“Sec. 2. The first mayor, vice-mayor
and councilors of the new municipality shall be elected in a special
election to coincide with the elections of November, nineteen
hundred and sixty-nine.”

7. R.A. 5442 – Mina, Iloilo:

“Sec. 2. The first mayor, vice-mayor
and councilors of the new municipality shall be elected in a special
election to be held simultaneously with the general elections of
nineteen hundred and sixty-nine.”

8. R.A.5229 – Alegria, Surigao Norte:

“Sec. 2. The Municipality
of Alegria
shall acquire corporate existence upon the election and qualification of the
first mayor, vice-mayor and councilors in the nineteen hun­dred sixty-nine elections.

9. R. A. 5662 – San Isidro
Bohol:

“Sec. 3. The first mayor, vice-mayor
and councilors of the new municipality shall be elected at the next general
elections, to hold office until their successors shall have been elected in
the next general elections for local officials and shall have
qualified.”

As may be observed, in
the above instances the Congress, while employing different phraseologies, has
nevertheless made its intention explicit by the invariable reference to the
elections of 1969.  Where no such
reference exists-in the case of San Isidro, Bohol – the legislative intention is made no less explicit by the
proviso “to hold office until their successors shall have been elected in
the next general election for local officials.” In the absence of similar
restrictive terms or provisions in Republic Act No. 5777 the logic of the
situation must prevail, that is, when it merely says “the next general
elections” it means the next general elections for the offices which are
to be filled, which will be held in 1971.

The spirit of the
Decentralization Act, as expressed in its Declaration of Policy (Sec. 2) is not
violated by this interpretation inasmuch as the newly created municipality
of Tomas Oppus
will continue to be governed, until 1971, by the same set of officials of the
mother municipality which the local electorate voted into office in the last
elections of 1967.

Wherefore, the writs prayed for are granted; the
resolutions in question are set aside insofar as the municipality of Tomas Oppus is concerned, and respondent Commission is
directed to refrain from calling, or proceed­ing with, the special election on November
11, 1969 for the
positions of mayor, vice-mayor and councilors therein, and to issue the
necessary instructions for that purpose. 
No costs.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon, Makalintal, Ruiz Castro,
Fernando, Teehankee, and
Barredo, JJ., concur.

Zaldivar, J., took no part.

Sanchez, J., reserves his vote.