E-08557 Concurring and Dissenting Opinion: Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen — Official PDF

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion ll G.R. No. E-08557 When, the same term is applied to officials previously elected; for a shorter period, however, the resulting extension of tenure does not proceed from a corresponding renewal of the electoral mandate; rather, it arises from Congress’s subsequent legislative determination. Thus, the constitutional concern lies not necessarily in the duration of the five-year term, but—as in Republic Act No. 12326 —lies in its application. ...... to incumbent officials whose mandate the people had already defined pursuant to a different statutory arrangement.°” In this sense, Congress’s decision to extend an incumbent’s tenure also determines who shall continue to exercise public authority during'a period when the electorate would otherwise have been afforded an opportunity to choose its representatives anew. Irespectfully submit that Congress’s authority to prescribe the duration. of public office must be exercised with due regard for’ this distinction. Although the law may prospectively establish longer terms, its application to incumbent officials must remain consistent with the electorate's. sovereign prerogative to periodically renew or withdraw the authority conferred upon their chosen representatives. Vv The other argument is that members of Congress were also elected, and they, too, derive their authority from: the people. . When Congress lengthens © the term of incumbent barangay officials, the argument runs that the people speak again through representatives they chose more recently, and the later expression of the people’s will should prevail over the earlier one. Under this view, the two mandates have equal pedigree, and the Court has no basis to prefer the barangay electorate of 2023 over the 20" Congress. The argument fails because the two mandates are not of the same kind. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution says two things.in a single sentence: “Sovereignty resides in the people, and all government authority emanates from them.”3* A 37 LON L. FULLER, THE MORALITY OF LAW, REV. ED. 33-38 (1969). Chapter 2 treats prospectivity as one of the conditions that make law possible. The point here is narrower. A completed election is a past transaction, and a statute that changes what it accomplished operates on the past. CONST., art. II, sec. I states, “The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” 38