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Bagumbayan V COMELEC Case Digest

The Supreme Court ruled that the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) must implement the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system for the 2016 elections. Petitioners Bagumbayan-VNP Movement and Richard Gordon sought to compel COMELEC to have voting machines issue receipts through a writ of mandamus, arguing that VVPAT would ensure transparency and reduce election tampering. However, COMELEC refused, citing concerns over vote buying and increased voting times. The Court found that COMELEC had unlawfully neglected its legal duty to fully implement election laws, including the requirement under R.A. No. 8436 (as amended by R.A. No. 9369)

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477 views1 page

Bagumbayan V COMELEC Case Digest

The Supreme Court ruled that the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) must implement the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system for the 2016 elections. Petitioners Bagumbayan-VNP Movement and Richard Gordon sought to compel COMELEC to have voting machines issue receipts through a writ of mandamus, arguing that VVPAT would ensure transparency and reduce election tampering. However, COMELEC refused, citing concerns over vote buying and increased voting times. The Court found that COMELEC had unlawfully neglected its legal duty to fully implement election laws, including the requirement under R.A. No. 8436 (as amended by R.A. No. 9369)

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Alexis Arejola
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BAGUMBAYAN-VNP MOVEMENT, RICHARD J.

GORDON, as Chairman of BAGUMBAYAN-VNP


MOVEMENT, INC. vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS
G.R. NO. 222731 MARCH 8, 2016

FACTS
On December 22, 1997, R.A. No. 8436 authorized the COMELEC to use an automated election
system for electoral exercises. Then, R.A. No. 9369, otherwise known as The Election Automation Law,
authored by Gordon amended R.A. No. 8436 was passed. Said law has several safeguards or Minimum
System Capabilities and in order to ensure the sanctity of the ballot. Among these is the implementation of
the Voter verified Paper Audit Trail which is security feature. The VVPAT functionality is in the form of a
printed receipt and a touch screen reflecting the votes in the vote-counting machine. Through it, voters can
verify if the choices on the paper record match the choices that he or she actually made in the ballot. In
addition, voters can confirm whether the machine had actually read the ballot correctly. Thereafter,
Bagumbayan-VNP and Gordon seeks to compel the COMELEC to have the vote-counting machine issue
receipts once a person has voted. According to petitioners, the VVPAT will ensure transparency and
reduce any attempt to alter the results of the elections. However, COMELEC, through its Chairman
Bautista, refused to implement the VVPAT function based on fears that the security feature may aid in the
use of receipts in vote buying by politicians, and that it may increase voting time to five to seven hours  in
election precincts. Thereafter, on November 10, 2015, Bagumbayan-VNP, Inc. sent COMELEC
Chairperson Bautista a letter demanding the implementation of the VVPAT feature for the May 9, 2016
Elections. Nonetheless, COMELEC never answered the letter. According to petitioners, the inclusion of
VVPAT as a mandatory requirement under the automated election laws, has been flagrantly violated by
COMELEC during the 2010 and 2013 Elections. This prompted petitioners to file before the Supreme Court
a Special Civil Action for Mandamus to compel COMELEC to implement the VVPAT.

ISSUE:
Whether or not COMELEC may be compelled, through a writ of mandamus, to enable the Voter
Verified Paper Audit Trail system capability feature for the 2016 Elections

HELD:
Yes. The petition is granted. Mandamus is the relief sought when any tribunal corporation,  board,
officer or person unlawfully neglects the performance of an act which the law specifically enjoins as a duty
resulting from an office, trust, or station, and there is no other plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the
ordinary course of law. Through a writ of mandamus, the courts compel the performance of a clear legal
duty or a ministerial duty imposed by law upon the defendant or respondent by operation of his or
her office, trust, or station. The petitioners were able to prove that COMELEC unlawfully neglected to
perform its legal duty of fully implementing our election laws by inaction  of the COMELEC in utilizing the
VVPAT feature of the vote-counting machines required under R.A. No. 8436, as amended. Article XI(C),
Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution empowered the Commission of Elections to enforce and administer all
laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election. One of the laws that the COMELEC must
implement is R.A. No. 8436, as amended by R.A. No. 9369, which requires the automated election system
to have the capability of providing a voter-verified paper audit trail. Thus, under the Constitution, the
COMELEC is empowered to enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of
election, and one of the laws that it must implement is R.A. No. 8346 as amended which requires the
automated election system to have the capability of providing a VVPAT.

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