VERA VS. AVELINO

FACTS
The COMELEC submitted its report regarding the national elections to the President and Congress. The report states that the voting in the provinces of Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Tarlac did not reflect the true and free expression of the popular will because of the acts of terrorism and violence. Consequently, Jose Vera, Ramon Diokno, and Jose Romero (the petitioners), who had been included among the sixteen candidates for senator receiving the highest number of votes shall not be sworn, nor seated, as members of the chamber. The petitioners brought an action to compel the respondents to permit them to occupy their seats, and to exercise their senatorial prerogatives.

ISSUE
Whether or not the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the case.


HELD
No, because no court has ever held and will ever hold that it possesses power to direct the Chief Executive or the Legislature or a branch thereof to take any particular action. The rule is non-interference. The Court could not order one branch of the Legislative to reinstate a member thereof. To do so would be to establish judicial predominance, and to upset the classic pattern of checks and balances wisely woven into our institutional setup.

Comments