SC CIRCULAR NO. 56-95, November 07, 1995

Quoted hereunder is Resolution No. 2812 of the Commission on Elections, Intramuros, Manila, promulgated on October 17, 1995.

“Acting on the letter-request of Chief Justice Andres H. Narvasa,
Chairman, Presidential Electoral Tribunal, Associate Justice Florentino
P. Feliciano, Chairman, Senate Electoral Tribunal and Associate Justice
Teodoro R. Padilla, Chairman, House of Representatives Electoral
Tribunal, dated 27 July 1995, the Commission RESOLVED to SET ASIDE Resolution No. 2801, promulgated July 13, 1995 and to ISSUE guidelines as follows:

Section 1. On request of the Tribunals, the Commission or the
Courts, the City/Municipal Treasurers and Electoral Officers, who have
official custody of the ballot boxes, election documents and
paraphernalias, are hereby authorized to release under proper receipt
and with notice to parties, to the PET, SET, HRET and the Courts, as the
case may be, such ballot boxes, election documents and paraphernalias
which are subject of protests before said Tribunals or Courts, and to
adopt adequate safeguards to protect the integrity and identity of the
ballot boxes and its contents, election documents and paraphernalias.

Sec. 2. The following order of preference in the
custody and revision of ballots and other documents contained in the
ballot boxes shall be:

2.1 Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET);

2.2 Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET);

2.3 House of Representative Electoral Tribunal (HRET0;

2.4 Commission on Election (Commission);

2.5 Regional Tribunal Court (RTC);

Sec. 3. The Tribunals, the Commission and the
Courts shall coordinate and make arrangement with each other so as not
to delay or interrupt the revision of ballots being conducted. The
synchronization of revision of ballots shall be such that the
expeditious disposition of the respective protest cases shall be the
primary concern.

Sec. 4. The Secretary, Presidential Electoral
Tribunals; the Tribunal Secretary, Senate Electoral Tribunal; the Clerk
of the Tribunal; House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal; and the
Director, Electoral Contests Adjudication Department, Commission on
Elections, shall be, as they are hereby constituted as a working
committee to coordinate with one another in the effective implementation
of the order of preference prescribed in this resolution.

Sec. 5. The ballot boxes and its contents together
with other election documents and paraphernalia shall be impounded and
delivered to the Tribunal, the Commission or the Court before which the
protest cases were filed, to be kept in a safe and secured place by the
officer who is in custody thereof, under the authority of this
Commission, the Tribunals or the Courts, through the committee hereby
created.

Sec. 6. The ballots and election documents so
marked in evidence by the contending parties may be machine or
photocopied after the revision. Ballots, election documents or records
taken out from the ballot boxes during the revision proceedings shall be
returned to the ballot box where they are taken from and sealed under
the authority of the Committee and only machine or photocopies thereof
shall be attached to the record of the case as exhibits.

Sec. 7. For rigid monitoring, movement or transfer
of ballot boxes, the Commission on Elections declares that all
contested ballot boxes, ballots contained therein, election documents
and election paraphernalia which are in the possession of the city or
municipal treasurer or election officer are considered IMPOUNDED and placed under the official and legal custody of the Committee hereby created.

Sec. 8. No opening of contested ballot boxes shall
be done without sufficient prior notice to all the parties involved in
the protest cases filed before the Commission, Tribunals, or the Courts.

Sec. 9. All expenses to be incurred in the
transfer of contested ballot boxes, documents and paraphernalia, to the
Commission, the Tribunals, or the Courts including expenses in the
re-sealing and retrieving shall be borne by the party or parties
requesting for the revision of ballots, subject to the internal rules of
the Commission the Tribunals, or the Courts.

Sec. 10. The Provincial Director of the Philippine
National Police in the provinces where contested ballot boxes are kept,
upon request of the Commission, the Tribunals, or the Courts, shall see
to it that adequate security is provided on a twenty-four (24) hours
basis to the officers of the city/municipal treasurers and election
officers, where the contested ballot boxes, election documents and
paraphernalia are kept.

Sec. 11. Provincial Treasurers shall closely
supervise and monitor the City/Municipal Treasurers under his
administrative supervision; and the Provincial Election Officers,
coordinate with and monitor the City/Municipal Treasurers and the
Provincial Directors of Philippine National Police of the Province as to
the strict compliance of this resolution.

Sec. 12. All resolution inconsistent herewith, specifically Min. Resolution Nos. 93-0381 and 93-0645 are hereby repealed.

The Electoral Contests Adjudication Department shall cause the
implementation of this resolution and the Education and Information
Department shall cause the publication hereof in two (2) newspaper of
general circulation.”

For strict compliance.

November 7, 1995.