G.R. No.

L-52245 January 22, 1980

PATRICIO DUMLAO, ROMEO B. IGOT, and ALFREDO SALAPANTAN, JR., petitioners,

vs.
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, respondent.

Raul M. Gonzales for petitioners

Office of the Solicitor General for respondent.

MELENCIO-HERRERA, J:

This is a Petition for Prohibition with Preliminary Injunction and/or Restraining Order filed by
petitioners, in their own behalf and all others allegedly similarly situated, seeking to enjoin
respondent Commission on Elections (COMELEC) from implementing certain provisions of Batas
Pambansa Big. 51, 52, and 53 for being unconstitutional.

The Petition alleges that petitioner, Patricio Dumlao, is a former Governor of Nueva Vizcaya, who
has filed his certificate of candidacy for said position of Governor in the forthcoming elections of
January 30, 1980. Petitioner, Romeo B. Igot, is a taxpayer, a qualified voter and a member of the
Bar who, as such, has taken his oath to support the Constitution and obey the laws of the land.
Petitioner, Alfredo Salapantan, Jr., is also a taxpayer, a qualified voter, and a resident of San Miguel,
Iloilo.

Petitioner Dumlao specifically questions the constitutionality of section 4 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 52
as discriminatory and contrary to the equal protection and due process guarantees of the
Constitution. Said Section 4 provides:

Sec. 4. Special Disqualification in addition to violation of section 10 of Art. XI I-C of

the Constitution and disqualification mentioned in existing laws, which are hereby
declared as disqualification for any of the elective officials enumerated in section 1
hereof.

Any retired elective provincial city or municipal official who has received payment of
the retirement benefits to which he is entitled under the law, and who shall have
been 6,5 years of age at the commencement of the term of office to which he seeks
to be elected shall not be qualified to run for the same elective local office from which
he has retired (Emphasis supplied)

Petitioner Dumlao alleges that the aforecited provision is directed insidiously against him, and that
the classification provided therein is based on "purely arbitrary grounds and, therefore, class
legislation."

For their part, petitioners igot and Salapantan, Jr. assail the validity of the following statutory
provisions:

Sec 7. Terms of Office — Unless sooner removed for cause, all local elective officials
hereinabove mentioned shall hold office for a term of six (6) years, which shall
commence on the first Monday of March 1980.
 .... (Batas Pambansa Blg. 51) Sec. 4.

Sec. 4. ...

Any person who has committed any act of disloyalty to the State, including acts
amounting to subversion, insurrection, rebellion or other similar crimes, shall not be
qualified to be a candidate for any of the offices covered by this Act, or to participate
in any partisan political activity therein:

provided that a judgment of conviction for any of the aforementioned crimes shall be
conclusive evidence of such fact and

the filing of charges for the commission of such crimes before a civil court or military
tribunal after preliminary investigation shall be prima fascie evidence of such fact.

... (Batas Pambansa Big. 52) (Paragraphing and Emphasis supplied).

Section 1. Election of certain Local Officials — ... The election shall be held on
January 30, 1980. (Batas Pambansa, Blg. 52)

Section 6. Election and Campaign Period — The election period shall be fixed by the
Commission on Elections in accordance with Section 6, Art. XII-C of the Constitution.
The period of campaign shall commence on December 29, 1979 and terminate on
January 28, 1980. (ibid.)

In addition to the above-cited provisions, petitioners Igot and Salapantan, Jr. also question the
accreditation of some political parties by respondent COMELEC, as authorized by Batas Pambansa
Blg. 53, on the ground that it is contrary to section 9(1)Art. XIIC of the Constitution, which provides
that a "bona fide candidate for any public office shall be it. from any form of harassment and
discrimination. "The question of accreditation will not be taken up in this case but in that of Bacalso,
et als. vs. COMELEC et als. No. L-52232) where the issue has been squarely raised,

Petitioners then pray that the statutory provisions they have challenged be declared null and void for
being violative of the Constitution.

I . The procedural Aspect

At the outset, it should be stated that this Petition suffers from basic procedural infirmities, hence,
traditionally unacceptable for judicial resolution. For one, there is a misjoinder of parties and actions.
Petitioner Dumlao's interest is alien to that of petitioners Igot and Salapantan Petitioner Dumlao does
not join petitioners Igot and Salapantan in the burden of their complaint, nor do the latter join Dumlao
in his. The respectively contest completely different statutory provisions. Petitioner Dumlao has
joined this suit in his individual capacity as a candidate. The action of petitioners Igot and
Salapantan is more in the nature of a taxpayer's suit. Although petitioners plead nine constraints as
the reason of their joint Petition, it would have required only a modicum more of effort tor petitioner
Dumlao, on one hand said petitioners lgot and Salapantan, on the other, to have filed separate suits,
in the interest of orderly procedure.

For another, there are standards that have to be followed inthe exercise of the function of judicial
review, namely (1) the existence of an appropriate case:, (2) an interest personal and substantial by
the party raising the constitutional question: (3) the plea that the function be exercised at the earliest
opportunity and (4) the necessity that the constiutional question be passed upon in order to decide
the case (People vs. Vera 65 Phil. 56 [1937]).

It may be conceded that the third requisite has been complied with, which is, that the parties have
raised the issue of constitutionality early enough in their pleadings.

This Petition, however, has fallen far short of the other three criteria.

A. Actual case and controversy.

It is basic that the power of judicial review is limited to the determination of actual cases and
controversies.

Petitioner Dumlao assails the constitutionality of the first paragraph of section 4 of Batas Pambansa
Blg. 52, quoted earlier, as being contrary to the equal protection clause guaranteed by the
Constitution, and seeks to prohibit respondent COMELEC from implementing said provision. Yet,
Dumlao has not been adversely affected by the application of that provision. No petition seeking
Dumlao's disqualification has been filed before the COMELEC. There is no ruling of that
constitutional body on the matter, which this Court is being asked to review on Certiorari. His is a
question posed in the abstract, a hypothetical issue, and in effect, a petition for an advisory opinion
from this Court to be rendered without the benefit of a detailed factual record Petitioner Dumlao's
case is clearly within the primary jurisdiction (see concurring Opinion of now Chief Justice Fernando
in Peralta vs. Comelec, 82 SCRA 30, 96 [1978]) of respondent COMELEC as provided for in section
2, Art. XII-C, for the Constitution the pertinent portion of which reads:

"Section 2. The Commission on Elections shall have the following power and functions:

1) xxx

2) Be the sole judge of all contests relating to the elections, returns

and qualifications of all members of the National Assembly and elective provincial
and city officials. (Emphasis supplied)

The aforequoted provision must also be related to section 11 of Art. XII-C, which provides:

Section 11. Any decision, order, or ruling of the Commission may be brought to the
Supreme Court on certiorari by the aggrieved party within thirty days from his receipt
of a copy thereof.

B. Proper party.

The long-standing rule has been that "the person who impugns the validity of a statute must have a
personal and substantial interest in the case such that he has sustained, or will sustain, direct injury
as a result of its enforcement" (People vs. Vera, supra).

In the case of petitioners Igot and Salapantan, it was only during the hearing, not in their Petition,
that Igot is said to be a candidate for Councilor. Even then, it cannot be denied that neither one has
been convicted nor charged with acts of disloyalty to the State, nor disqualified from being
candidates for local elective positions. Neither one of them has been calle ed to have been
adversely affected by the operation of the statutory provisions they assail as unconstitutional Theirs
is a generated grievance. They have no personal nor substantial interest at stake. In the absence of
any litigate interest, they can claim no locus standi in seeking judicial redress.

It is true that petitioners Igot and Salapantan have instituted this case as a taxpayer's suit, and that
the rule enunciated in People vs. Vera, above stated, has been relaxed in Pascual vs. The Secretary
of Public Works (110 Phil. 331 [1960], thus:

... it is well settled that the validity of a statute may be contested only by one who will
sustain a direct injury in consequence of its enforcement. Yet, there are many
decisions nullifying at the instance of taxpayers, laws providing for the disbursement
of public funds, upon the theory that "the expenditure of public funds, by an officer of
the State for the purpose of administering an unconstitutional act constitutes a
misapplication of such funds," which may be enjoined at the request of a taxpayer.

In the same vein, it has been held:

In the determination of the degree of interest essential to give the requisite standing
to attack the constitutionality of a statute, the general rule is that not only persons
individually affected, but also taxpayers have sufficient interest in preventing the
illegal expenditure of moneys raised by taxation and they may, therefore, question
the constitutionality of statutes requiring expenditure of public moneys. (Philippine
Constitution Association, Inc., et als., vs. Gimenez, et als., 15 SCRA 479 [1965]).

However, the statutory provisions questioned in this case, namely, sec. 7, BP Blg. 51, and sections
4, 1, and 6 BP Blg. 52, do not directly involve the disbursement of public funds. While, concededly,
the elections to be held involve the expenditure of public moneys, nowhere in their Petition do said
petitioners allege that their tax money is "being extracted and spent in violation of specific
constitutional protections against abuses of legislative power" (Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S., 83 [1960]),
or that there is a misapplication of such funds by respondent COMELEC (see Pascual vs. Secretary
of Public Works, 110 Phil. 331 [1960]), or that public money is being deflected to any improper
purpose. Neither do petitioners seek to restrain respondent from wasting public funds through the
enforcement of an invalid or unconstitutional law. (Philippine Constitution Association vs. Mathay, 18
SCRA 300 [1966]), citing Philippine Constitution Association vs. Gimenez, 15 SCRA 479 [1965]).
Besides, the institution of a taxpayer's suit, per se is no assurance of judicial review. As held by this
Court in Tan vs. Macapagal (43 SCRA 677 [1972]), speaking through our present Chief Justice, this
Court is vested with discretion as to whether or not a taxpayer's suit should be entertained.

C. Unavoidability of constitutional question.

Again upon the authority of People vs. Vera, "it is a wellsettled rule that the constitutionality of an act
of the legislature will not be determined by the courts unless that question is properly raised and
presented in appropriate cases and is necessary to a determination of the case; i.e., the issue of
constitutionality must be the very lis mota presented."

We have already stated that, by the standards set forth in People vs. Vera, the present is not an
"appropriate case" for either petitioner Dumlao or for petitioners Igot and Salapantan. They are
actually without cause of action. It follows that the necessity for resolving the issue of
constitutionality is absent, and procedural regularity would require that this suit be dismissed.

II. The substantive viewpoint.

We have resolved, however, to rule squarely on two of the challenged provisions, the Courts not
being entirely without discretion in the matter. Thus, adherence to the strict procedural standard was
relaxed in Tinio vs. Mina (26 SCRA 512 [1968]); Edu vs. Ericta (35 SCRA 481 [1970]); and
in Gonzalez vs. Comelec (27 SCRA 835 [1969]), the Opinion in the Tinio and Gonzalez cases
having been penned by our present Chief Justice. The reasons which have impelled us are the
paramount public interest involved and the proximity of the elections which will be held only a few
days hence.

Petitioner Dumlao's contention that section 4 of BP Blg. 52 is discriminatory against him personally is
belied by the fact that several petitions for the disqualification of other candidates for local positions
based on the challenged provision have already been filed with the COMELEC (as listed in p. 15,
respondent's Comment). This tellingly overthrows Dumlao's contention of intentional or purposeful
discrimination.

The assertion that Section 4 of BP Blg. 52 is contrary to the safer guard of equal protection is neither
well taken. The constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws is subject to rational
classification. If the groupings are based on reasonable and real differentiations, one class can be
treated and regulated differently from another class. For purposes of public service, employees 65
years of age, have been validly classified differently from younger employees. Employees attaining
that age are subject to compulsory retirement, while those of younger ages are not so compulsorily
retirable.

In respect of election to provincial, city, or municipal positions, to require that candidates should not
be more than 65 years of age at the time they assume office, if applicable to everyone, might or
might not be a reasonable classification although, as the Solicitor General has intimated, a good
policy of the law would be to promote the emergence of younger blood in our political elective
echelons. On the other hand, it might be that persons more than 65 years old may also be good
elective local officials.

Coming now to the case of retirees. Retirement from government service may or may not be a
reasonable disqualification for elective local officials. For one thing, there can also be retirees from
government service at ages, say below 65. It may neither be reasonable to disqualify retirees, aged
65, for a 65 year old retiree could be a good local official just like one, aged 65, who is not a retiree.

But, in the case of a 65-year old elective local official, who has retired from a provincial, city or
municipal office, there is reason to disqualify him from running for the same office from which he had
retired, as provided for in the challenged provision. The need for new blood assumes relevance. The
tiredness of the retiree for government work is present, and what is emphatically significant is that
the retired employee has already declared himself tired and unavailable for the same government
work, but, which, by virtue of a change of mind, he would like to assume again. It is for this very
reason that inequality will neither result from the application of the challenged provision. Just as that
provision does not deny equal protection neither does it permit of such denial (see People vs. Vera,
65 Phil. 56 [1933]). Persons similarly situated are sinlilarly treated.

In fine, it bears reiteration that the equal protection clause does not forbid all legal classification.
What is proscribes is a classification which is arbitrary and unreasonable. That constitutional
guarantee is not violated by a reasonable classification based upon substantial distinctions, where
the classification is germane to the purpose of the law and applies to all Chose belonging to the
same class (Peralta vs. Comelec, 82 SCRA 30 [1978] citing Felwa vs. Salas, 18 SCRA 606 [1966];
Rafael v. Embroidery and Apparel Control and Inspection Board, 21 SCRA 336 [1967]; Inchong etc.,
et al. vs. Hernandez 101 Phil. 1155 [1957]). The purpose of the law is to allow the emergence of
younger blood in local governments. The classification in question being pursuant to that purpose, it
cannot be considered invalid "even it at times, it may be susceptible to the objection that it is marred
by theoretical inconsistencies" (Chief Justice Fernando, The Constitution of the Philippines, 1977
ed., p. 547).

There is an additional consideration. Absent herein is a showing of the clear invalidity of the
questioned provision. Well accepted is the rule that to justify the nullification of a law, there must be
a clear and unequivocal breach of the Constitution, not a doubtful and equivocal breach. Courts are
practically unanimous in the pronouncement that laws shall not be declared invalid unless the
conflict with the Constitution is clear beyond reasonable doubt (Peralta vs. COMELEC, 82 SCRA 55
[1978], citing Cooper vs. Telfair 4 Dall 14; Dodd, Cases on Constitutional Law, 3rd ed. 1942, 56).
Lastly, it is within the compentence of the legislature to prescribe qualifications for one who desires
to become a candidate for office provided they are reasonable, as in this case.

In so far as the petition of Igot and Salapantan are concerned, the second paragraph of section 4 of
Batas Pambansa Blg. 52, quoted in full earlier, and which they challenge, may be divided in two
parts. The first provides:

a. judgment of conviction jor any of the aforementioned crimes shall be conclusive

evidence of such fact ...

The supremacy of the Constitution stands out as the cardinal principle. We are aware of the
presumption of validity that attaches to a challenged statute, of the well-settled principle that "all
reasonable doubts should be resolved in favor of constitutionality," and that Courts will not set aside
a statute as constitutionally defective "except in a clear case." (People vs. Vera, supra). We are
constrained to hold that this is one such clear case.

Explicit is the constitutional provision that, in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be
presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and
counsel (Article IV, section 19, 1973 Constitution). An accusation, according to the fundamental law,
is not synonymous with guilt. The challenged proviso contravenes the constitutional presumption of
innocence, as a candidate is disqualified from running for public office on the ground alone that
charges have been filed against him before a civil or military tribunal. It condemns before one is fully
heard. In ultimate effect, except as to the degree of proof, no distinction is made between a person
convicted of acts of dislotalty and one against whom charges have been filed for such acts, as both
of them would be ineligible to run for public office. A person disqualified to run for public office on the
ground that charges have been filed against him is virtually placed in the same category as a person
already convicted of a crime with the penalty of arresto, which carries with it the accessory penalty of
suspension of the right to hold office during the term of the sentence (Art. 44, Revised Penal Code).

And although the filing of charges is considered as but prima facie evidence, and therefore, may be
rebutted, yet. there is "clear and present danger" that because of the proximity of the elections, time
constraints will prevent one charged with acts of disloyalty from offering contrary proof to overcome
the prima facie evidence against him.

Additionally, it is best that evidence pro and con of acts of disloyalty be aired before the Courts
rather than before an administrative body such as the COMELEC. A highly possible conflict of
findings between two government bodies, to the extreme detriment of a person charged, will thereby
be avoided. Furthermore, a legislative/administrative determination of guilt should not be allowed to
be substituted for a judicial determination.
Being infected with constitutional infirmity, a partial declaration of nullity of only that objectionable
portion is mandated. It is separable from the first portion of the second paragraph of section 4 of
Batas Pambansa Big. 52 which can stand by itself.

WHEREFORE, 1) the first paragraph of section 4 of Batas pambansa Bilang 52 is hereby declared
valid. Said paragraph reads:

SEC. 4. Special disqualification. — In addition to violation of Section 10 of Article

XII(C) of the Constitution and disqualifications mentioned in existing laws which are
hereby declared as disqualification for any of the elective officials enumerated in
Section 1 hereof, any retired elective provincial, city or municipal official, who has
received payment of the retirement benefits to which he is entitled under the law and
who shall have been 65 years of age at the commencement of the term of office to
which he seeks to be elected, shall not be qualified to run for the same elective local
office from which he has retired.

2) That portion of the second paragraph of section 4 of Batas Pambansa Bilang 52

providing that "... the filing of charges for the commission of such crimes before a civil
court or military tribunal after preliminary investigation shall be prima facie evidence
of such fact", is hereby declared null and void, for being violative of the constitutional
presumption of innocence guaranteed to an accused.

SO ORDERED.

Makasiar, Antonio, Concepcion, Jr., Fernandez and Guerrero, JJ., concur.

Fernando, C.J., concurs and submits a brief separate opinion.

De Castro, J., abstain as far as petitioner Dumlao is concerned.