Define recall

Wheter or not a recall is an election? if yes, it is a regular or special election? No, Recall is not a mere election, it is a process involving several preparatory steps that culminates in an election. It is a Constitutional exercise of liberty by people to remove a public official from his/her office, due to loss of confidence. As stated in Garcia vs Commission on Elections, Recall is a mode of removal of a public officer by the people before the end of his term of office. The people's prerogative to remove a public officer is an incident of their sovereign power and in the absence of constitutional restraint, the power is implied in all governmental operations. Such power has been held to be indispensable for the proper administration of public affairs. Not undeservedly, it is frequently described as a fundamental right of the people in a representative democracy (ENRIQUE T. GARCIA,vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, G.R. No. 111511 October 5, 1993). Article X, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution provides that; “The Congress shall enact a local government code which shall provide for a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of decentralization with effective mechanisms of recall, initiative, and referendum, allocate among the different local government units their powers, responsibilities, and resources, and provide for the qualifications, election, appointment and removal, term, salaries, powers and functions and duties of local officials, and all other matters relating to the organization and operation of local units. Hence, supplied in Chapter 5 of Republic Act No. 7160, also known as the Local Government Code of 1991 are the ways to initiate and conduct a recall. A recall can be commenced by two means; first is through a preparatory recall assembly or PRA, composed of all elected leaders in the said local government (Sec 70, LGC). It shall convene in session in a public place and shall be validly initiate a resolution adopted by a majority of all the members of the assembly (Sec 70-c, LGC). A recall of any elective local official may also be commenced through a petition of at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the total number of registered voters in the particular locality (Sec 70-d, LGC).. After a petition for recall was signed before the election registrar or his representative, and in the presence of the petitioners and the respondent, be filed in the Comelec, it shall cause the publication of the petition for the determination of authenticity and the required percentage of voters (Sec 70-1, LGC). Then the Comelec shall accept candidates for the position. The public official to be recalled shall join the election and his/her victory shall determine wheter the people had lost their confidence on his/her leadership (Sec 70-2). In the case Garcia vs Comelec, the Supreme Court deciding En Banc, recognized the recall as a process, which is completed through the concurrence of a resolution and the subsequent election. “More far out is petitioners' stance that a PRA resolution of recall is the recall itself. It cannot be seriously doubted that a PRA resolution of recall merely, starts the process. It is part of the process but is not the whole process. This ought to be self evident for a PRA resolution of recall that is not submitted to the COMELEC for validation will not recall its subject official. Likewise, a PRA resolution of recall that is rejected by the people in the election called for the purpose bears no effect whatsoever. The initiatory resolution merely sets the stage for the official concerned to appear before the tribunal of the people so he can justify why he should be allowed to continue in office.” The same recognition was reflected in the case of CLAUDIO, vs. COMelec, in which the Supreme Court pronounced; “We can agree that recall is a process which begins with the convening of the preparatory recall assembly or the gathering of the signatures at least 25% of the registered voters of a local government unit, and then proceeds to the filing of a recall resolution or petition with the COMELEC, the verification of such resolution or petition, the fixing of the date of the recall election, and the holding of the election on the scheduled date.” (CLAUDIO, VS. COMELEC, G.R. NO. 140560 MAY 4, 2000) The recall election can be classified as a special election. According to Black dictionary, a special election is an election for a particular emergency; out of the regular course. Similarly a recall election is called upon for a particular predicament-that is to remove a public official in office due to lack of confidence. Furtheremore, a recall election can only be done, as the law provides, exactly one year after the assumption to officeof the official sought to be replaced, which is out of the regular course or that of a regular election held after the expiration of the full term of an official. The 1987 Constituion mandates that the regular local election be held every 2nd Monday of May every three years. _______________

It is a well settled doctrine in statutory construction that “When the language of the law is clear and

explicit, there is no room for interpretation- only application”.
The Atricle VII, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution is clear and unambiguous when it stated;

No person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election. Hence in light of the latin maxim verba legis, it is to be construed in the sense that the age requirement must be acquired at the exact time of the election, that is the day of votation, simultaneously held in precincts nationwide. The plain construction of this provision in the current Constitution, in effect (synonymous to the qualifications of being a senator), abandones the doctrine established in the case of Espinosa vs Aquino, Electoral Case no 9, Senate Electoral Tribunal, that sustained the senatorial position of the late Senator and martyr Benigno Aquino Jr. even though he was less than the required age at the time of the election but acquired the necessary age before his proclamation. As Father Joaquin Bernas, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission stated “The age qualification must be possess 'on the day of the election for President,' that is, on the day set by law on which the votes are cast”.And as Justice Isagani Cruz further elucidated “, it should be noted that this qualification should be possessed by the candidate on the day of the election for president regardless of the tome the president-elect is actually proclaimed”.