ARTICLE V

THEORIES OF SUFFRAGE

1. Natural right theory. Suffrage is a natural and inherent right of every citizen who is not

disqualified by reason of his own reprehensible conduct or unfitness. BY VIRTUE OF

MEMBERSHIP IN THE STATE.

The Legal Theory : According to this theory, suffrage is not a natural right, but a political right granted by
the law of the state. Voting is a public function.

 2. Social expediency. Suffrage is a public office or function conferred upon the citizen for reasons of
social expediency; conferred upon those who are fit and capable of discharging it. NOT A RIGHT BUT A
DUTY.

However, it can understood as a pursuit of the greatest good for the greater number. 

3. Tribal theory. It is a necessary attribute of membership in the State. (Nachura) In early Greek and
Roman States, suffrage was extended only to the citizen class. Only people who were accorded
citizenship status could vote. NOT A RIGHT, ONLY ACCRUES WHEN BECOMES MEMBER OF STATE.

4. Feudal theory.  Vested privilege; The feudal theory claims that the right to vote depends on a
particulars social status.  The simplest form of social status was ownership of land. WORST.

5. Ethical theory. It is a necessary and essential means for the development of society. (Nachura) The
Ethical Theory considers the right to vote as a means of self expression of the individual in political affairs.
INDICATIVE OF POLITICAL MATURITY.

PHILIPPINE THEORY

1. right – expression of sovereign will of the people Sec 1 Art II Constitution

2. privilege – not granted to everybody; but to persons as are most likely to exercise it ; for the common
good Section 1 Art V Constitution

3. duty – every citizen owes to the country Section 4 BP 881

Requisites from exercise of suffrage

https://www.scribd.com/document/253482788/UST-Golden-Notes-Election-Law

Election
 Embodiment of the popular will, the expression of the sovereign power of the people.

 The listing of votes, the holding of electoral campaign, the act of
 casting and
Regular election – refers to an election participated in by those who possess the right of suffrage and not
disqualified by law and who are registered voters.

Special election – is when there is failure of election on the scheduled date of regular election in a particular place or
which is conducted to fill up certain vacancies, as provided by law.

MODULE 2

Section 1, Article V, 1987 Constitution

SUFFRAGE

Section 1. Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at
least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year, and in the place
wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months immediately preceding the election. No literacy, property, or
other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.

Section 2. The Congress shall provide a system for securing the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot as well as
a system for absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad. The Congress shall also design a procedure for the
disabled and the illiterates to vote without the assistance of other persons. Until then, they shall be allowed to vote
under existing laws and such rules as the Commission on Elections may promulgate to protect the secrecy of the
ballot.

Section 117, B.P. 881 (Omnibus Election Code)

Section 117. Qualifications of a voter. - Every citizen of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by law, eighteen
years of age or over, who shall have resided in the Philippines for one year and in the city or municipality wherein he
proposes to vote for at least six months immediately preceding the election, may be registered as a voter.

Any person who transfers residence to another city, municipality or country solely by reason of his occupation;
profession; employment in private or public service; educational activities; work in military or naval reservations;
service in the army, navy or air force; the constabulary or national police force; or confinement or detention in
government institutions in accordance with law, shall be deemed not to have lost his original residence.

Section 9, R.A. 8189 (Voters Registration Act of 1996)

Sec. 9. Who may Register. - All citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law who are at least
eighteen (18) years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one (1) year, and in the place
wherein they propose to vote, for at least six (6) months immediately preceding the election, may register as a voter.
Any person who temporarily resides in another city, municipality or country solely by reason of his occupation,
profession, employment in private or public service, educational activities, work in the military or naval reservations
within the Philippines, service in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the National Police Forces, or confinement or
detention in government institutions in accordance with law, shall not be deemed to have lost his original residence.

Any person, who, on the day of registration may not have reached the required age or period of residence
but, who, on the day of the election shall possess such qualifications, may register as a voter.

Macalintal vs. Comelec, G.R. No. 157013. July 3, 2003

Atty. Romulo Macalintal, a member of the Philippine Bar, seek... declaration that certain provisions of Republic Act
No. 9189 (The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003)... suffer from constitutional infirmity.
R.A. No. 9189, entitled, "An Act Providing for A System of Overseas Absentee Voting by Qualified Citizens of
the Philippines Abroad, Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes," appropriates funds under
Section 29 thereof which provides that a supplemental... budget on the General Appropriations Act of the year of its
enactment into law shall provide for the necessary amount to carry out its provisions. Taxpayers, such as herein
petitioner, have the right to restrain officials from wasting public funds through the enforcement of an...
unconstitutional statute.
Petitioner posits that Section 5(d) is unconstitutional because it violates Section 1, Article V of the 1987
Constitution which requires that the voter must be a resident in the Philippines for at least one year and in
the place where he proposes to vote for at least six... months immediately preceding an election.
He claims that the right of suffrage... should not be granted to anyone who, on the date of the election, does not
possess the qualifications provided for by Section 1, Article V of the Constitution.

ISSUE:
Does Section 5(d) of Rep. Act No. 9189 allowing the registration of voters who are immigrants or permanent
residents in other countries... by their mere act of executing an affidavit expressing their intention to return to the
Philippines, violate the residency requirement in Section 1 of Article V of the Constitution?

HELD:
NO. R.A. No. 9189 was enacted in obeisance to the mandate of the first paragraph of Section 2, Article V of the
Constitution that Congress shall provide a system for voting by qualified Filipinos abroad.
Such mandate expressly requires that Congress provide a system of... absentee voting that necessarily
presupposes that the "qualified citizen of the Philippines abroad" is not physically present in the country .
The provisions of Sections 5(d) and 11 are components of the system of overseas absentee voting established by
R.A. No. 9189. The... qualified Filipino abroad who executed the affidavit is deemed to have retained his
domicile in the Philippines. He is presumed not to have lost his domicile by his physical absence from this
country. His having become an immigrant or permanent resident of his host country does... not necessarily
imply an abandonment of his intention to return to his domicile of origin, the Philippines . Therefore, under the
law, he must be given the opportunity to express that he has not actually abandoned his domicile in the Philippines by
executing the affidavit... required by Sections 5(d) and 8(c) of the law.

Nicolas-Lewis vs. Comelec, G.R. No. 162759. Aug. 4, 2006

Petitioners, Nicolas Lewis, Gregorio Macabenta, Alejandro Esclamado, Armando Heredia, Reuben Seguritan, Eric
Furbeyre, Teresita Cruz, Josefina Disterhoft, Mercedez Opena, Cornelio Natividad, and Evelyn Natividad have
retained or acquired their Philippine citizenship under RA 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Re-
acquisition Act of 2003. Petitioners are duals praying that they be allowed to exercise their right to suffrage under
RA 9189 or the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003.
Petitioners were successful applicants of RA 9225. They sought to register and certify themselves to vote for the May
2004 national and local elections. However, the Philippine Embassy in the United States, per a COMELEC letter
to the DFA dated September 23, 2003, advised that petitioners do not have the right to vote as they lack the
one-year residency requisite under Section 1, Article 5 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

Petitioners, filed a petition for certiorari and mandamus, owing to the refusal of COMELEC from allowing them to
exercise their right to vote for the May 2004 elections.
A week before the May 2004 elections, COMELEC filed a comment for the denial of the petition.
Petitioners were not able to register and vote for the May 2004 elections.
10 days after the election, OSG filed a manifestation stating that, “All qualified overseas Filipinos, including
duals who care to exercise their right to vote may do so.” However, the May 2004 elections have ended
rendering the petition moot and academic.
However, for the petition to perpetuate, petitioners’ participation in a political exercise is the subject of the concern
making it a transcendental issue. The exercise of duals of their right to suffrage has still remained unsolved.

ISSUE:

WON Filipinos whose citizenship that was granted under RA 9225 may be allowed to vote under RA 9189.

HELD:

YES. Section 5, Paragraph 1 of the R.A. 9225 states that “Those intending to exercise their right of suffrage must
meet the requirements under Section 1, Article V of the Constitution, Republic Act No. 9189, otherwise known as
"The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003" and other existing laws.

Article 5, Section 2 of the Constitution provides for the exception to the residency requirement in Section 1 of the
same article. The voting mechanism in RA 9189 was practically set forth to provide a system wherein Filipinos
of dual citizenship and are, at the same time, not residing in the Philippines are empowered to vote.

There is no provision in the dual citizenship law requiring dual citizens to actually establish residence and physically
stay in the Philippines first before they can exercise their right to vote. On the contrary, the law acknowledged that
dual citizens are most likely non-residents and granted them the same right of suffrage as that granted an absentee
voter under the Overseas Absentee Voting Act. The Overseas Absentee Voting Act, in essence, aims to enfranchise
as much as possible all overseas Filipinos who, save for the residency requirements, are qualified to vote as an
ordinary voter under ordinary conditions.

Yra vs. Abano, G.R. No. 30187. Nov. 15, 1928

F A C T S : M a x i m o A b a n o i s a n a t i v e o f t h e m u n i c i p a l i t y o f Meycauayan, Bulacan. At the proper age,

he transferred to Manila to complete his education. While temporarily residing in Manila, Abano registered as a
voter there. Shortly after qualifying as a member of t h e b a r a n d a f t e r t h e d e a t h o f h i s f a t h e r , A b a n o
r e t u r n e d t o Meycauayan to live. From May 10, 1927, until the present, Abano has considered himself a
resident of Meycauayan. When the 1928 elections were approaching, he made an application for cancellation of
registration in Manila which was dated April 3, 1928, but this application was rejected by the city officials for
the reason that it was not deposited in the mails on or before April 4, 1928.

Nevertheless Abano presented himself as a candidate for municipal president of Meycauayan in the 1928
elections and was elected by popular vote to that office. Petitioner now questions the qualifications of Abano
through a quo warranto proceeding.
Marcos Yra... challenges the right of the respondent, Maximo Abaño, the municipal president elect of
Meycauayan, to the position to which elected on the ground that the respondent is ineligible.

ISSUE: Whether registration is a qualification to run for a public office.

HELD: section 404 of the election law states that to run for p u b l i c o f f i c e , o n e m u s t b e a q u a l i f i e d
e l e c t o r . O n e o f t h e requirements to be a qualified elector is to be a qualified voter.Section 431 states
the requirements for a qualification of a voter, while section 432 states the disqualification. All of these are
needed in able to be register and vote. However, registration and voting is NOT a requirement in order to run for
public office. What is needed isto be a qualified elector and a qualified voter, which Abano complied with.
Registration only regulates the exercise to vote.

Aportadera vs. Sotto, G.R. No. L-16876. Nov. 30, 1961

FACTS: Abelardo Aportadera and respondent Manuel S. Sotto ran for the office of Vice-Governor of the province of
Davao in the 1959 general elections, where Sotto won with78,346votes. Abelardo Aportadera asserts that Sotto is
disqualified to vote, and, consequently, to run forVice-Governor of Davao since:(1) Sotto is not a duly registered voter
of Davao,because, before being registered as such, he had failed to apply for the cancellation of his registration as a
voter in the City of Manila(2) Sotto allegedly committed felony when he subscribed to a voter's affidavit stating that he
was "not at present actually registered in any other precinct "in registering himself as a voter in DavaoCourt of First
Instance of Davao dismissed the petition since it does not state a cause of action

ISSUE: Whether or not Sotto is a "qualified voter" of Davao province?

Registration is essential to the exercise of the right of suffrage, not to the possession thereof.

Indeed, only those who have such right may be registered. In other words, the right must
be possessed before the registration. The latter does not confer it