6/7/2020
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judicially enforceable constitutional rights.
Some of the constitutional provisions invoked in the present case were taken
from Article II of the Constitution — specifically, Sections 5, 9, 10, 11, 13,
15 and 18 — the provisions of which the Court categorically ruled to be non
self-executing in the aforecited case of Tañada v. Angara.[16] (Emphasis
supplied; citations omitted)
In Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party v. COMELEC,[17] the Court construed the
constitutional provisions on the party-list system and held that the phrases "in
accordance with law" and "as may be provided by law" authorized Congress "to sculpt
in granite the lofty objective of the Constitution," to wit:
That political parties may participate in the party-list elections does not
mean, however, that any political party — or any organization or group for
that matter — may do so. The requisite character of these parties or
organizations must be consistent with the purpose of the party-list system,
as laid down in the Constitution and RA 7941. Section 5, Article VI of the
Constitution, provides as follows:
"(1) The House of Representatives shall be composed of not more
than two hundred and fifty members, unless otherwise fixed by
law, who shall be elected from legislative districts apportioned
among the provinces, cities, and the Metropolitan Manila area in
accordance with the number of their respective inhabitants, and
on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio, and those who,
as provided by law, shall be elected through a party-list system
of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or
organizations.
(2) The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per
centum of the total number of representatives including those
under the party list. For three consecutive terms after the
ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to
party-list representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by
selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor,
indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other
sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector."
xxxx
The foregoing provision on the party-list system is not self-executory. It
is, in fact, interspersed with phrases like "in accordance with law" or
"as may be provided by law"; it was thus up to Congress to sculpt in
granite the lofty objective of the Constitution. x x x.[18] (Italicization in
the original; boldfacing supplied)
Unable to cite any specific law on which DOJ Circular No. 041-10 is based, respondent
invokes Executive Order No. 292, otherwise known as the Revised Administrative Code
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/64165
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