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    Tolentino Vs COMELEC Case Digest PDF

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    Chanyeol Park
    This case discusses whether a special election held by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to fill a Senate vacancy was valid despite COMELEC failing to give notice of the election. The court ruled that the special election was still valid because the law itself specified that such elections must be held simultaneously with the next regular election, thereby operating as notice. However, for House of Representative vacancies, the law requires COMELEC to explicitly call the special election between 60-90 days after the vacancy occurs and provide notice of details, so failure to do so would invalidate any attempted special election.

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    Tolentino Vs COMELEC Case Digest PDF

    Uploaded by

    Chanyeol Park
    307 views3 pages
    This case discusses whether a special election held by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to fill a Senate vacancy was valid despite COMELEC failing to give notice of the election. The court ruled that the special election was still valid because the law itself specified that such elections must be held simultaneously with the next regular election, thereby operating as notice. However, for House of Representative vacancies, the law requires COMELEC to explicitly call the special election between 60-90 days after the vacancy occurs and provide notice of details, so failure to do so would invalidate any attempted special election.

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    Tolentino vs COMELEC case digest.pdf

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    This case discusses whether a special election held by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to fill a Senate vacancy was valid despite COMELEC failing to give notice of the election. The court ruled that the special election was still valid because the law itself specified that such elections must be held simultaneously with the next regular election, thereby operating as notice. However, for House of Representative vacancies, the law requires COMELEC to explicitly call the special election between 60-90 days after the vacancy occurs and provide notice of details, so failure to do so would invalidate any attempted special election.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    307 views3 pages

    Tolentino Vs COMELEC Case Digest PDF

    Uploaded by

    Chanyeol Park
    This case discusses whether a special election held by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to fill a Senate vacancy was valid despite COMELEC failing to give notice of the election. The court ruled that the special election was still valid because the law itself specified that such elections must be held simultaneously with the next regular election, thereby operating as notice. However, for House of Representative vacancies, the law requires COMELEC to explicitly call the special election between 60-90 days after the vacancy occurs and provide notice of details, so failure to do so would invalidate any attempted special election.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    ARTURO M. TOLENTINO v. COMELEC, GR No.

    148334, 2004-01-21
    Facts:
    Issues:
    whether the special election is invalid for lack of a "call"
    for such election and for lack of notice as to the office to
    be filled and the manner by which the winner in the
    special... election is to be determined.
    Ruling:
    COMELEC's Failure to Give Notice... of the Time of the
    Special Election Did Not
    Negate the Calling of such Election
    The calling of an election, that is, the giving notice of the
    time and place of its occurrence, whether made by the
    legislature directly or by the body with the duty to give
    such call, is indispensable to the election's validity.[26]
    In a general election,... where the law fixes the date of
    the election, the election is valid without any call by the
    body charged to administer the election.[27]
    In a special election to fill a vacancy, the rule is that a
    statute that expressly provides that an election to fill a
    vacancy shall be held at the next general elections fixes
    the date at which the special election is to be held and
    operates as the call for that election.
    Consequently, an election held at the time thus
    prescribed is not invalidated by the fact that the body
    charged by law with the duty of calling the election
    failed to do so.[28] This is because the right and duty to
    hold the election emanate from the... statute and not from
    any call for the election by some authority[29] and the
    law thus charges voters with knowledge of the time and
    place of the election.[30]
    Conversely, where the law does not fix the time and
    place for holding a special election but empowers some
    authority to fix the time and place after the happening of
    a condition precedent, the statutory provision on the
    giving of notice is considered mandatory, and failure to
    do... so will render the election a nullity.[31]
    In the instant case, Section 2 of R.A. No. 6645 itself
    provides that in case of vacancy in the Senate, the special
    election to fill such vacancy shall be held simultaneously
    with the next succeeding regular election. Accordingly,
    the special election to fill the vacancy in... the Senate
    arising from Senator Guingona's appointment as
    Vice-President in February 2001 could not be held at any
    other time but must be held simultaneously with the next
    succeeding regular elections on 14 May 2001. The law
    charges the voters with knowledge of this... statutory
    notice and COMELEC's failure to give the additional
    notice did not negate the calling of such special election,
    much less invalidate it.
    Our conclusion might be different had the present case
    involved a special election to fill a vacancy in the House
    of Representatives. In such a case, the holding of the
    special election is subject to a condition precedent, that is,
    the vacancy should take place at least... one year before
    the expiration of the term. The time of the election is
    left to the discretion of COMELEC subject only to the
    limitation that it holds the special election within the
    range of time provided in Section 2 of R.A. No. 6645, as
    amended. This makes... mandatory the requirement in
    Section 2 of R.A. No. 6645, as amended, for COMELEC
    to "call x x x a special election x x x not earlier than 60
    days nor longer than 90 days after the occurrence of the
    vacancy" and give notice of the office to be filled. The
    COMELEC's failure... to so call and give notice will
    nullify any attempt to hold a special election to fill the
    vacancy. Indeed, it will be well-nigh impossible for the
    voters in the congressional district involved to know the
    time and place of the special election and the office to be
    filled... unless the COMELEC so notifies them.

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