The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9369, the Election Modernization Act, which provides, among other things, poll automation in the 1998 national and local elections and subsequent elections in the country.

RA 9369 also allows Congress and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) pre-proclamation authority over the presidential and vice presidential, and senatorial elections, respectively, insofar as the determination of the authenticity and due execution of the certificates of canvass are concerned.

In affirming the constitutionality of RA 9369, the SC – in a decision written by Justice Antonio T. Carpio – dismissed for lack of merit the petition filed by Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT) Party-List

“Petitioner (BANAT) failed to justify why RA 9369 (An Act Amending Republic Act No. 8436, Entitled ‘An Act Authorizing the Commission on Elections to Use an Automated Election System in the May 11, 1998 National or Local Elections and in Subsequent National and Local Electoral Exercises, to Encourage Transparency, Credibility, Fairness, and Accuracy of Elections, Amending for the Purpose Batas Pambansa Blg. 881, as Amended, Republic Act No. 7166 and Other Related Election Laws, Providing Funds Therefor and For Other Purposes’) and the assailed provisions (Sections 34, 37, 38,  and 43) should be declared unconstitutional,” said the Court.

The SC said that RA 9369 does not violate Sec. 26(1) of the Constitution which requires that “every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed in the title thereof.”

According to the SC the assailed provisions deal with amendments to specific provisions of RA 7166 and BP 881, thus, they were germane to the subject matter of RA 9369 which was to amend RA 7166 and BP 881, among others.

BANAT claimed that RA 9369 was misleading as it spoke of poll automation but contains substantial provisions dealing with the manual canvassing of votes and that the assailed sections were neither embraced in the title nor germane to the subject matter of RA 9369.

The SC said that Sections 37 and 38 do not violate the Constitution contrary to BANAT’s contention that these impaired the powers of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) and the Senate
Electoral Tribunal (SET).

It pointed out that Congress and the Comelec en banc do not encroach upon the jurisdiction of the PET and SET and there was no conflict of jurisdiction since the powers of concerned offices “are exercised on different occasions and for different purposes.”