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Union - Occeña v. Comelec, 127 SCRA 404

The Supreme Court ruled that the ban on political party intervention in barangay elections is constitutional. While political parties have a right to organize, there is a valid restriction here to prevent partisan bias in local elections, as barangay officials perform important community duties. The ban is narrow as it only prohibits organized group actions of political parties, not individual participation. Maintaining impartiality of barangay officials is an appropriate public interest served by this legislative restriction on political parties' activities.

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118 views2 pages

Union - Occeña v. Comelec, 127 SCRA 404

The Supreme Court ruled that the ban on political party intervention in barangay elections is constitutional. While political parties have a right to organize, there is a valid restriction here to prevent partisan bias in local elections, as barangay officials perform important community duties. The ban is narrow as it only prohibits organized group actions of political parties, not individual participation. Maintaining impartiality of barangay officials is an appropriate public interest served by this legislative restriction on political parties' activities.

Uploaded by

Andre Ates
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Occeña v.

Comelec, 127 SCRA 404


Facts:
Samuel C. Occena filed a petition for prohibition seeking that Sections 4 and
22 of BP Blg. 222, otherwise known as the Barangay Election Act of 1982, be
declared as unconstitutional insofar as it prohibits any candidate in the Barangay
election of 17 May 1982 "from representing or allowing himself to be represented as
a candidate of any political party or prohibits a political party, political group, political
committee from intervening in the nomination of a candidate in the barangay election
or in the filing of his certificate of candidacy, or giving aid or support directly or
indirectly, material or otherwise, favorable to or against his campaign for election."
On this basis, it is also prayed that "judgment be rendered declaring the 1982
Barangay elections null and void ab initio, for being unconstitutional, and directing
the holding of new barangay elections without any ban on the involvement of political
parties, political committees, political organizations and other political group."
Issue:
Whether or not the ban on the intervention of political parties in the election of
barangay officials is violative of the constitutional guarantee of the right to form
associations and societies for purposes not contrary to law.
Ruling:
No. Examining Section 4 of the Barangay Election Act of 1982, the right to
organize is intact. Political parties may freely be formed although there is a restriction
on their activities, i.e., their intervention in the election of barangay officials on 17
May 1982 is proscribed. But the ban is narrow, not total. It operates only on
concerted or group action of political parties. Members of political and kindred
organizations, acting individually, may intervene in the barangay election. As the law
says: "Nothing (therein) shall be construed as in any manner affecting or constituting
an impairment of the freedom of individuals to support or oppose any candidate for
any barangay office." The Barangay Captain and the Barangay Council, apart from
their legislative and consultative powers, also act as an agency for neutral
community action such as the distribution of basic foodstuff and as an instrument in
conducting plebiscites and referenda. The ban against the participation of political
parties in the barangay election is an appropriate legislative response to the
unwholesome effects of partisan bias in the impartial discharge of the duties
imposed on the barangay and its officials as the basic unit of our political and social
structure.
Principle:
The right to form associations or societies for purposes not contrary to law is
neither absolute nor illimitable; it is always subject to the pervasive and dominant
police power of the state and may constitutionally be regulated or curtailed to serve
appropriate and important public interests (Gonzales vs. Comelec, 27 SCRA 835;
Imbong vs. Comelec, 35 SCRA 28). Whether a restriction imposed is
constitutionally permissible or not depends upon the circumstances of each case.

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