etitioner Lorenzo M.
Tañada is a member of the Senate of the Philippines,
and President of the Citizens Party, whereas petitioner Diosdado
Macapagal, a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines,
was one of the official candidates of the
Liberal Party for the Senate, at the general elections held in November,
1955, in which Pacita Madrigal Warns, Lorenzo Sumulong, Quintín
Paredes, Francisco Rodrigo, Pedro Sabido, Claro M. Recto, Domocao
Alonto and Decoroso Rosales, were proclaimed elected. Subsequently,
the... election of these Senators-elec
The Senate, in its session of February 22, 1956, upon nomination of
Senator Cipriano Primicias, on behalf of the Nacionalista Party, chose
Senators Jose P. Laurel, Fernando Lopez and Cipriano Primicias, as
members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Issues:
the remedy of petitioners is not in the judicial forum, but, to use petitioner
Tañada's own words, 'to bring the matter to the bar of public opinion'...
jurisdiction hinges on the question whether the issue before us is political
or not. In this connection, Willoughby lucidly states:... considered that it
is not within the province of the courts to pass judgment upon the policy
of legislative or executive action.
Petitioners maintain that said nomination and election of Senators
Cuenco and Delgado who belong to the Nacionalista Party as members of
the Senate Electoral Tribunal, are null and void and have been made
without power or color of authority, for, after the nomination by said...
party, and the election by the Senate, of Senators Laurel, Lopez and
Primicias, as members of said Tribunal, the other Senators, who shall be
members thereof, must necessarily be nominated by the party having the
second largest number of votes in the Senate, and such... party is,
admittedly, the Citizens Party, to which Senator Tañada belongs and
which he represents.
Ruling:
Again, under the Constitution, "the legislative power" is vested
exclusively in the Congress of the Philippines. Yet, this does not detract
from the power of the courts to pass upon the constitutionality of acts of
Congress[1] And, since judicial power... includes the authority to inquire
into the legality of statutes enacted by the two Houses of Congress, and
approved by the Executive, there can be no reason why the validity of an
act of one of said Houses, like that of any other branch of the
Government, may... not be determined in the proper actions. Thus, i
It is well-settled doctrine that political questions are not within the
province of the judiciary, except to the extent that power to deal with
such questions has been conferred upon the courts by express
constitutional or statutory provisions.
called upon to decide whether the election of Senators Cuenco and
Delgado, by the Senate, as members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal,
upon nomination by Senator Primicias a member and... spokesman of the
party having the largest number of votes in the Senate on behalf of its
Committee on Rules, contravenes the constitutional mandate that said
members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal shall be chosen "upon
nomination *
Principles:
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