SC: Ban on losing candidates as party-list nominees unconstitutional

The Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional the rules that prohibit losing candidates from being included in the list of nominees for party-list representatives.

According to the SC Public Information Office, the justices voted on Tuesday to strike down as unconstitutional the phrase "a person who has lost his bid for elective office in the immediately preceding election," under Section 8 of the Party-List System Act (Republic Act 7941).

It also declared invalid the phrases "have lost in their bid for an elective office in the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections" and "or a person who has lost his bid for an elective office in the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections," under Sections 5(d) and 10, respectively, of Comelec Resolution 10717, which was issued ahead of the May 2022 polls. 

"The Court found that the prohibition placed on losing candidates violates the constitutional guarantee of substantive due process as it effectively intrudes on the right of losing candidates in the immediately preceding elections from participating in the present elections," the SC PIO said in a press release. 

"It added that the State cannot require eligibility for public office to be conditioned on a candidate’s ill performance in the previous election, nor may such performance be used as a rubric to gauge the person’s ability to serve."

The SC also said Congress "must still yield to the general limitations on legislation, particularly the equal protection clause." 

"Applying the rational basis test, the Court held that the assailed portion of the provisions under RA 7941 and Comelec Resolution 10717 must be struck down, as no substantial distinction exists between candidates who lost in the immediately preceding election vis-à- vis those who won or did not participate therein," the SC PIO said. 

Written by Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, the decision stemmed from the petition filed by Catalina Leonen-Pizzaro and Glen Quintos Albano, candidates for party-list representatives in the 2019 midterm elections. —VBL, GMA Integrated News