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Election Protest Mootness Ruling

Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed an election protest after losing the 1992 Philippine presidential election. She later ran for and was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1995, taking office in June 1995. The Supreme Court held that Defensor-Santiago's election protest was moot and considered withdrawn because she had been elected to the Senate and assumed that office, discharging its duties and functions. As a senator, she had abandoned her determination to pursue the protest and public interest in determining the true choice of voters in the 1992 election. Dismissing the protest also served public interest by dissipating uncertainty over the 1992 election results and enhancing political stability in the nation.

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228 views2 pages

Election Protest Mootness Ruling

Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed an election protest after losing the 1992 Philippine presidential election. She later ran for and was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1995, taking office in June 1995. The Supreme Court held that Defensor-Santiago's election protest was moot and considered withdrawn because she had been elected to the Senate and assumed that office, discharging its duties and functions. As a senator, she had abandoned her determination to pursue the protest and public interest in determining the true choice of voters in the 1992 election. Dismissing the protest also served public interest by dissipating uncertainty over the 1992 election results and enhancing political stability in the nation.

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Tobit Atlan
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© © All Rights Reserved
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MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO versus FIDEL RAMOS (253 SCRA 559)

Facts:
The protestant, Miriam Defensor-Santiago ran for presidency and lost in the May
1992 election. In her Motion on the 16th day of August in the year 1995, reiterated
in her comment of the 29th of August of the same year, protestant DefensorSantiago prayed that the revision in the remaining precincts of the pilot areas be
dispensed with and the revision process in the pilot areas be deemed computed.

The Court deferred action on the motion and required, instead, the protestant and
protestee to submit their respective memoranda. Hence, this petition.

Issue:
Whether or not the election protest filed by Defensor-Santiago is moot and
academic by her election as a Senator in the May 1995 election and her assumption
of office as such on the 30th of June in the year 1995.

Held:
YES. The Court held that the election protest filed by Santiago has been abandoned
or considered withdrawn as a consequence of her election and assumption of office
as Senator and her discharge of the duties and functions thereof.

The protestant abandoned her determination to protest and pursue the public
interest involved in the matter of who is the real choice of the electorate.

Moreover, the dismissal of this protest would serve public interest as it would
dissipate the aura of uncertainty as to the results of the 1992 presidential elections,
thereby enhancing the all too crucial political stability of the nation during this
period of national recovery.

Also, the PET issued a resolution ordering the protestant to inform the PET within 10
days if after the completion of the revision of the ballots from her pilot areas, she

still wishes to present evidence. Since DS has not informed the Tribunal of any such
intention, such is a manifest indication that she no longer intends to do so.

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