Merriam-Webster.com defines a pyrrhic victory as “a victory that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it. It comes from the name Phyrrhus, a long-ago King of Epirus, who suffered heavy losses in defeating the Romans of Asculum in Apulla in 279 B.C.E.” In election cases in the Philippines, as early as in 1966, our Supreme Court said that a pyrrhic victory is what a successful contestant in an election protest gets when the decision is rendered when the term of office is about to expire, or has expired.[1]
In Pilipino, we say “Aanhin pa ang damo, kung patay na ang kabayo.”
And Juan Pinoy Party List (JPPL) just recently won its pyrrhic victory when the Supreme Court released its March 1, 2022 resolution on June 9, 2022 reversing and setting aside the resolution of the Comelec dated December 13, 2021 denying its petition for registration as a party-list in connection with the May 9, 2022 elections. While a temporary restraining order was issued by the SC on January 24, 2022 against the Comelec, the latter refused to include the name of JPPL in the list of party-list candidates in said election.
The case reached the Supreme Court when the Comelec En Banc in its December 13, 2021 resolution denied JPPL petition to register as a PL on the alleged grounds that the JPL (1) failed to pay the filing fees on time; and (2) that ALL its officers and members were not made aware of the petition to register and have given their consent thereto.
On appeal, the SC sustained the arguments of JPPL lawyers, Romulo Macalintal, Antonio Carlos Bautista and Emil Maranon, that while the Postal Money Order (PMO) checks for filing fees was received by the Comelec on April 13, 2021 and not on March 31, 2021 (the deadline for the filing of the petition), said filing fees were made within the deadline set under Comelec Resolution No. 10690. The SC said that the PMO checks dated March 31, 2021 were attached to the hard copies of the petition sent to the Comelec via courier after the electronic filing (on March 31, 2021) because personal filing “were not allowed due to the pandemic quarantine restrictions.” (par. 2, page 6 Resolution).
“Although proof of payment was received by the Comelec only on April 13, 2021, it cannot be denied that payment of the filing fees was timely made. The belated receipt by the Comelec cannot be attributed to any fault on the part of Juan Pinoy, as the circumstances of the pandemic are beyond its control”, the SC ruled. (Par. 3, Page 6, Resolution).
The SC also ruled that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion in denying JPPL its registration on the ground that “ALL’ its officers and members did not give their consent to the said petition for registration. The SC emphasized that RA 7941, the Party-List Law, “does not similarly provide the requirement of obtaining the consent of ALL of the members of the registering organization. Further, Comelec Resolution No. 9366 itself does not require that ALL of the members should physically express their consent to the filing of the petition for registration by signing the consent forms.” (Par. 2, Page 8, resolution).
In sum, the SC said that “the Comelec disregarded the explanations and documents provided by Juan Pinoy. Likewise, it failed to consider the challenges caused by the pandemic which made it improbable, if not impossible, for Juan Pinoy to obtain the physical signatures of all of its 3,367 members. Such strict imposition of the requirement is downright unreasonable and contrary to the policy behind the enactment of RA 7941.” (PAR. 3, Page 10, Resolution).
While the case has already been rendered moot with the holding of the May 9, 2022 polls, the JPPL will still pursue its petition for registration for its participation in future elections.