G.R. No. 203766 : April 2, 2013 | ATONG PAGLAUM, INC., represented by its President, Mr. Alan Igot, Petitioner, v.

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, Respondent. CARPIO, J.:

FACTS:
52 party-list groups and organizations filed separate petitions totaling 54 with the Supreme Court (SC) in an effort to
reverse various resolutions by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) disqualifying them from the May 2013 party-list
race. The Comelec, in its assailed resolutions issued in October, November and December of 2012, ruled, among others,
that these party-list groups and organizations failed to represent a marginalized and underrepresented sector, their
nominees do not come from a marginalized and underrepresented sector, and/or some of the organizations or groups
are not truly representative of the sector they intend to represent in Congress.

Petitioners argued that the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction
in disqualifying petitioners from participating in the 13 May 2013 party-list elections, either by denial of their new
petitions for registration under the party-list system, or by cancellation of their existing registration and accreditation as
party-list organizations; and second, whether the criteria for participating in the party-list system laid down in Ang
Bagong Bayani and Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency v. Commission on Elections
(BANAT) should be applied by the COMELEC in the coming 13 May 2013 party-list elections.

ISSUE: Whether or not the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion?

HELD:
No. The COMELEC merely followed the guidelines set in the cases of Ang Bagong Bayani and BANAT. However, the
Supreme Court remanded the cases back to the COMELEC as the Supreme Court now provides for new guidelines which
abandoned some principles established in the two aforestated cases.