SIMPLICIO C. GRIÑO, ARTURO GADIAN, THE LABAN NG DEMOKRATIKONG PILIPINO, EVELYN C. JIZ AND PERLA ZULUETA, PETITIONERS, VS. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ILOILO PROVINCIAL BOARD OF CAN…

Griño versus Commission on Elections

The Case

This is a petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court, filed by the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino through its Iloilo provincial chairman Simplicio Griño, together with Arturo Gadian, Evelyn Jiz and Perla Zulueta, against the Commission on Elections and the Iloilo Provincial Board of Canvassers. The petitioners assail the act of the Commission on Elections in disallowing the voters of the sub-province of Guimaras from voting for the governor and vice-governor of Iloilo and for the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the second district of Iloilo in the local and national elections held on May 11, 1992. The case matters because it is the Supreme Court's first reading of Section 462 of the 1991 Local Government Code on the conversion of existing sub-provinces into regular provinces, and because it shows how the Court treats a live election controversy that events have overtaken.

Procedural History

There were no lower court proceedings. The petitioners went directly to the Supreme Court by petition for certiorari, filed on May 13, 1992, two days after the election. On May 14, 1992, the Court issued a temporary restraining order enjoining the Commission on Elections and the Provincial Board of Canvassers of Iloilo from canvassing and proclaiming the results for governor, vice-governor and members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. The public respondents filed their comment through the Office of the Solicitor General, and the petitioners filed a reply. On June 17, 1992, the Court lifted the restraining order. Perla Zulueta, a candidate for governor, was allowed to intervene, and her petition raised the same issue as the main petition. A second motion for intervention by candidates for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the other districts was denied, because they were not directly affected by the principal issue. The petitioners later amended their petition to include Evelyn Jiz, another candidate for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the second district.

Facts

The sub-province of Guimaras is composed of three municipalities, namely Buenavista, Jordan and Nueva Valencia, with a combined voting population of about fifty thousand. These three municipalities also form part of the second district of Iloilo, the rest of which is composed of Pavia, Leganes, Santa Barbara, New Lucena, Zarraga, Alimodian, Leon and San Miguel. In previous elections, the voters of Guimaras were allowed to vote for the provincial officials of the entire province of Iloilo.

On January 1, 1992, the 1991 Local Government Code, Republic Act Number 7160, took effect. Section 462 called for the conversion of existing sub-provinces into regular provinces upon approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite, and directed that the plebiscite be held simultaneously with the national elections following the effectivity of the Code. The first such elections were those of May 11, 1992. The Commission on Elections conducted the plebiscite on that day, and by Resolution Number 2410 it provided that all registered voters of Iloilo, except Iloilo City, and of the sub-province of Guimaras who were qualified to vote for provincial officials were qualified to vote in the plebiscite.

The ballots for the three municipalities of Guimaras and for the entire province carried the plebiscite question at the bottom, but the ballots distributed in Guimaras contained no space for the election of the governor, the vice-governor and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the second district. The petitioners claimed that the Commission acted without jurisdiction and with grave abuse of discretion, that the law did not provide that the voters of the sub-province could no longer vote for provincial officials who would continue to represent them if conversion were rejected, and that the candidates and voters were never informed of the disenfranchisement. In the plebiscite, the Yes votes totalled 283,224 against 42,524 No votes.

Issues

• Whether or not the Commission on Elections acted without jurisdiction and with grave abuse of discretion in disallowing the voters of the sub-province of Guimaras from voting for the governor, the vice-governor and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the second district of Iloilo.
• Whether or not the petition has been rendered moot and academic by the result of the plebiscite approving the conversion of Guimaras into a regular province.

Applicable Provisions

Section 462 of the 1991 Local Government Code provides:

Existing sub-provinces are hereby converted into regular provinces upon approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite to be held in the said sub-provinces and the original provinces directly affected. The plebiscite shall be conducted by the Comelec simultaneously with the national elections following the effectivity of this Code.

This is the provision that fixes both the manner and the timing of the conversion, and the Court reads it to determine what happens to the voters of the sub-province in the election held on the same day.

The same section provides on the effect of conversion:

After effectivity of such conversion, the President shall fill up the position of governor of the newly created province through appointment if none has yet been appointed to the same as hereinbefore provided, and shall also appoint a vice-governor and the other members of the sangguniang panlalawigan, all of whom shall likewise hold office until their successors shall have been elected in the next regular local elections and qualified.

This is the clause the Commission on Elections relied on, and the Court holds that it operates only where conversion is approved.

The same section provides on the negative vote:

The incumbent elected officials of the said sub-provinces converted into regular provinces shall continue to hold office until June 30, 1992. Any vacancy occurring in the offices occupied by said incumbent elected officials, or resulting from expiration of their terms of office in case of a negative vote in the plebiscite results, shall be filled by appointment by the President. The appointee shall hold office until their successors shall have been elected in the regular local elections following the plebiscite mentioned herein and qualified.

This is the clause the Court finds the Commission misread, because it speaks only of the officials of the sub-province and not of the provincial officials of the original province.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court held that the Commission on Elections acted under a mistaken presumption. Section 462 is silent on whether the voters of a sub-province proposed for conversion may still vote for the provincial officials of the original province in the election held simultaneously with the plebiscite. The Court reasoned that if the voters of Guimaras were allowed to vote and the Yes vote prevailed, those votes would not be considered; but if the No vote prevailed, their votes would be counted. The Commission assumed that under Section 462 the President would fill the provincial positions by appointment whether or not conversion was ratified. The Court rejected this reading: in case of a negative vote, only the elected officials of the sub-province are to be appointed, because by a negative vote the people of Guimaras continue to be represented by the provincial officials of Iloilo elected at large by the registered voters of the province, including those of Guimaras.

On the second issue, the Court held that it would serve no useful purpose to undo what the Commission had done in the plebiscite, and that it was more relevant to deal with the facts actually obtaining. The voters of the sub-province overwhelmingly approved the conversion, and under the third paragraph of Section 462 the President appoints the governor, vice-governor and members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the new province. Guimaras is now a regular province, politically independent from Iloilo, and there is no more legal basis for calling a special election in Buenavista, Jordan and Nueva Valencia to elect the governor and vice-governor of Iloilo and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the second district.

Doctrine

First, Section 462 of the Local Government Code of 1991 is incomplete: it addresses the eventuality of approval of conversion but is silent on whether the voters of a sub-province may vote for the provincial officials of the original province in the simultaneous election. Second, the appointing clause of Section 462 operates only upon effectivity of the conversion; in case of a negative vote, only the incumbent elected officials of the sub-province, or their successors, are filled by appointment by the President, and the sub-province continues to be represented by the provincial officials of the original province elected at large. Third, where the plebiscite has already been held and conversion overwhelmingly approved, the controversy over the omitted provincial offices becomes moot and academic, and no special election may be ordered, because the new province is politically independent of the original province.

Disposition

The petition was dismissed for being moot and academic, and the restraining order earlier issued had already been lifted.

Remember This

Memorize the line that Section 462 is silent on the voting rights of the sub-province in the simultaneous election, and that in a negative vote only the sub-province's own officials are appointed, the people remaining represented by the provincial officials elected at large. Examiners use this case on the conversion of sub-provinces under the Local Government Code and on the moot and academic principle in election cases overtaken by the plebiscite result.