Cited Laws
Accordingly, in a letter dated January 23, 2010, Ed Vincent Albano ( Albano ), acting as the partys Secretary, notified the partys chapters and members that the party would hold its first Supreme Assembly on February 6, 2010 pursuant to the resolution adopted by the party during its First All Leaders Assembly held last December 15, 2009. [9] As scheduled, the respondents proceeded to hold a Supreme Assembly that resulted in the approval and ratification of the revised ABAKADA CBL; the ouster of Alcantara et. al from their positions; the expulsion of the petitioners from the party; and the election of De la Cruz and Albano as new President and Secretary-General, respectively. This prompted the petitioners to file a petition with the COMELEC to (i) declare the meeting held on February 6, 2010 void and (ii) restrain the respondents from falsely representing themselves as the duly elected officers of ABAKADA. In their petition, the petitioners alleged that the sending of notices and the holding of a Supreme Assembly were contrary to the partys CBL for not having been authorized by the President and by the partys National Executive Board. They alleged that Albano has no authority to sign and send notices, much less call a Supreme Assembly, since he is not the partys Secretary. Likewise, the membership status of several meeting participantshave neither been approved nor accepted in accordance with the partys CBL. The respondents defended the validity of the meeting in their comment to the petition. They narrated that between September 2009 and February 2010, De la Cruz made several communications to Alcantara to urge him to call a general membership meeting and to inform him of the consultation meetings and party caucuses being conducted at the respondents instance in preparation for the May 2010 elections. The respondents added that since Alcantaras letter-response merely sought the deferment of the Supreme Assembly to early next year [10] i.e. , 2010, an All Leaders Assembly was convened on December 15, 2009, with prior notice to Alcantara, leading to the Supreme Assembly on February 6, 2010. COMELEC Rulings The COMELEC Second Division dismissed the petition . It ruled that the holding of an assembly for purposes of electing party officers and the amendment of the partys CBL have long been overdue. Under the partys CBL, a Supreme Assembly must be convened every three years to elect officers and to amend or revise the partys CBL. Under Alcantaras leadership, no Supreme Assembly was convened since ABAKADAs accreditation in 2004. As members in good standing, therefore, the respondents had every right to ask Alcantara to make a call for a Supreme Assembly; the respondents even notified him of earlier meetings and caucuses being held by the party. Because of the petitioners (particularly, Alcantaras) failure, if not outright refusal, to heed the respondents requests pursuant to the partys CBL, the respondents had good cause to initi