Philippine Commission on Elections
Official seal of the Commission on Elections
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| Abbreviation | COMELEC |
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| Motto | Protecting the sanctity of the ballot since 1940 |
| Predecessor | Department of Interior |
| Formation | August 22, 1940 |
| Headquarters | Palacio del Gobernador |
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Chairman
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Andres D. Bautista |
| Website | www |
The Commission on Elections (Filipino: Komisyon sa Halalan), usually abbreviated as COMELEC, is one of the three constitutional commissions of the Philippines. Its principal role is to enforce all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of elections in the Philippines.
According to Article IX-C, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, the Commission on Elections shall exercise the following powers and functions:
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) was created by a 1940 amendment to the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. Before the creation of the COMELEC, supervision over the conduct of elections was vested by law in the Executive Bureau under the Department of Interior and, later directly by the same Department. The Secretary of Interior saw to it that local authorities performed the ministerial duties assigned to them by the Election Code. He decides administrative questions concerning elections. The courts, however, exercised exclusive and final jurisdiction over questions affecting the right to vote as well as contested elections of local elective officials. Elections contests involving members of the National Assembly were judged solely by an Electoral Commission composed of three justices of the Supreme Court and six members of the National Assembly.
In view, however, of the close official ties between the President and the Secretary of Interior, there was always the danger of a partisan Secretary of the Interior exploiting his powers and influence to ensure the victory of his party at the polls. As a consequence, the Constitution was amended in 1940 to create an independent Commission on Elections, composed of a Chairman and two other members, to take over the functions of the Secretary of the Interior relative to the elections. but since the amendments could not be effective in time for the 1940 elections, the National Assembly, by Commonwealth Act No. 607, created a Commission on Elections, giving thereto the same powers which the Commission on Elections could have under the amended Constitution. The statutory Commission supervised the conduct of the December 10, 1940 local elections.
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