Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC

Atong Paglaum v.
COMELEC
G.R. No. 203766
Atong Paglaum, Inc. and 51 other parties were disqualified by the Commission on Elections
in the May 2013 party-list elections for various reasons but primarily for NOT being qualified
as representatives for marginalized or underrepresented sectors.
Atong Paglaum et al then filed a petition for certiorari against COMELEC alleging grave
abuse of discretion on the part of COMELEC in disqualifying them.
ISSUE
Whether or not the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in disqualifying the said
party-lists.
HELD
No. The COMELEC merely followed the guidelines set in the cases of Ang Bagong
Bayani and BANAT. However, the Supreme Court remanded the cases back to the COMELEC
as the Supreme Court now provides for new guidelines which abandoned some principles
established in the two aforestated cases.
As a general finding, the Court held that the Comelec did not commit grave abuse of
discretion in following prevailing decisions of the Supreme Court in disqualifying the
petitioners from participating in the May 13, 2013 party-list elections. However, since the
decision adopts new parameters in the qualification of national, regional and sectoral parties
under the party-list system, the Court remands to the Comelec all the present petitions for
the Comelec to determine who are qualified to participate under the May 2013 elections
under the new parameters prescribed, the Court said in the decision penned by Carpio.
The justices pointed out that Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act of 1995, the
law that implements the party-list system prescribed in the Constitution, does not require
national and regional parties or organizations to represent the marginalized and
underrepresented sectors.
To require all national and regional parties under the party-list system to represent the
marginalized and underrepresented is to deprive and exclude, by judicial fiat, ideology-
based and cause-oriented parties from the party-list system.
Thus, professionals, elderly, women and the youth are not, by definition, marginalized and
underrepresented, may be considered as lacking well-defined political constituencies and
can organize themselves into sectoral parties advocating their interests.
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The new guidelines are as follows:
In qualifying party-lists, the COMELEC must use the following PARAMETERS:
1. Three different groups may participate in the party-list system:
(1) national parties or organizations
(2) regional parties or organizations
(3) sectoral parties or organizations.
2. National parties or organizations and regional parties or organizations do not need to

organize along sectoral lines and DO NOT NEED to represent any marginalized and
underrepresented sector.
3. Political parties can participate in party-list elections provided they register under the
party-list system and do not field candidates in legislative district elections. A political party,
whether major or not, that fields candidates in legislative district elections can participate in
party-list elections only through its sectoral wing that can separately register under the
party-list system. The sectoral wing is by itself an independent sectoral party, and is linked
to a political party through a coalition.
4. Sectoral parties or organizations may either be marginalized and underrepresented or

lacking in well-defined political constituencies. It is enough that their principal advocacy
pertains to the special interest and concerns of their sector. The sectors that are
marginalized and underrepresented include labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban
poor, indigenous cultural communities, handicapped, veterans, and overseas
workers. The sectors that lack well-defined political constituencies include
professionals, the elderly, women, and the youth.
5. A majority of the members of sectoral parties or organizations that represent the
marginalized and underrepresented must belong to the marginalized and
underrepresented sector they represent. Similarly, a majority of the members of
sectoral parties or organizations that lack well-defined political constituencies must belong
to the sector they represent. The nominees of sectoral parties or organizations that
represent the marginalized and underrepresented, or that represent those who lack well-
defined political constituencies, either must belong to their respective sectors, or must have
a track record of advocacy for their respective sectors. The nominees of national and
regional parties or organizations must be bona-fide members of such parties or
organizations.
6. National, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations shall not be disqualified if some
of their nominees are disqualified, provided that they have at least one nominee who
remains qualified.
II. In the BANAT case, major political parties are disallowed, as has always been the
practice, from participating in the party-list elections. But, since theres really no
constitutional prohibition nor a statutory prohibition, major political parties can now
participate in the party-list system provided that they do so through their bona fide
sectoral wing (see parameter 3 above).
Allowing major political parties to participate, albeit indirectly, in the party-list elections
will encourage them to work assiduously in extending their constituencies to the
marginalized and underrepresented and to those who lack well-defined political
constituencies.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court gave weight to the deliberations of the Constitutional
Commission when they were drafting the party-list system provision of the Constitution. The
Commissioners deliberated that it was their intention to include all parties into the party-list
elections in order to develop a political system which is pluralistic and multiparty. (In
the BANAT case, Justice Puno emphasized that the will of the people should defeat the
intent of the framers; and that the intent of the people, in ratifying the 1987 Constitution, is
that the party-list system should be reserved for the marginalized sectors.)
III. The Supreme Court also emphasized that the party-list system is NOT RESERVED for
the marginalized and underrepresented or for parties who lack well-defined political
constituencies. It is also for national or regional parties.
It is also for small ideology-based and cause-oriented parties who lack well-defined political
constituencies. The common denominator however is that all of them cannot, they
do not have the machinery unlike major political parties, to field or sponsor candidates
in the legislative districts but they can acquire the needed votes in a national election
system like the party-list system of elections.
If the party-list system is only reserved for marginalized representation, then the system
itself unduly excludes other cause-oriented groups from running for a seat in the lower
house.
As explained by the Supreme Court, party-list representation should not be understood to
include only labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities,
handicapped, veterans, overseas workers, and other sectors that by their nature
are economically at the margins of society.
It should be noted that Section 5 of Republic Act 7941 includes, among others, in its
provision for sectoral representation groups of professionals, which are not per se
economically marginalized but are still qualified as marginalized, underrepresented, and do
not have well-defined political constituencies as they are ideologically marginalized.

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Atong Paglaum v.

G.R. No. 203766

The new guidelines are as follows:

In qualifying party-lists, the COMELEC must use the following PARAMETERS:

1. Three different groups may participate in the party-list system:

(1) national parties or organizations

(2) regional parties or organizations

(3) sectoral parties or organizations.

2. National parties or organizations and regional parties or organizations do not need to

4. Sectoral parties or organizations may either be marginalized and underrepresented or

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