Tolentino v.

Comelec
October 16, 1971| Barredo J
Adoption and Amendment of the Constitution

Doctrine: All proposed amendments shall be presented to the people for ratification/rejection at
the same time, not in a piecemeal fashion wherein the other amendments are to follow. The
people should have a frame of reference from which to read the amendments being proposed.
(Doctrine of Proper Submission)

Case Summary: The Constitutional Convention (CC) of 1971 scheduled an advance plebiscite
concerning only the proposal to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. This was even before the
rest of the draft of the Constitution (then under revision) had been approved. Tolentino then filed
a motion to prohibit such plebiscite. Petition is granted. Organic Resolution (OR) No. of 1971
CC and corresponding implementing acts & resolutions of said convention were declared null
and void.

Facts:
A. The 1971 CC came into being by virtue of two resolutions of the Congress of the Philippines
approved in its capacity as a constituent assembly convened for the purpose of calling a
convention to propose amendments to the Constitution. By a letter dated September 28, 1971,
President Diosdado Macapagal, called upon respondent Comelec to help the Convention
implement OR No. 1 of 1971 CC.
B. Petitioner, Tolentino, filed a petition to restrain respondent, COMELEC, from holding a
plebiscite pertaining to the proposed constitutional amendment resolved in OR No. 1 of 1971
CC and subsequent implementing reolutions which proposed the lowering of voting age (from
21 to 18 years old).
C. The petition’s main thrust being that OR No. 1 and necessary implementing resolutions
subsequently approved have no force and effect as laws in so far as they provide for the holding
of a plebiscite co-incident with the senatorial, provincial and municipal elections, on the
ground that the calling and holding of such a plebiscite is, by the Constitution, a power lodged
exclusively in Congress as a legislative body and may not be exercised by the Convention 1/,
and that, under Article XV Sec. 1 of the 1935 Constitution, the proposed amendment in
question cannot be presented to the people for ratification separately from each and all other
amendments to be drafted and proposed by the Constitution1/.
D. Respondent posits that, as a necessary consequence, it is within the Convention’s authority to
provide for, fix the date and lay down the details of plebiscite for the ratification of any
amendment, either individually or jointly, that the Convention may deem proper to to propose.

Issue: Is there any limitation or condition in Section 1 of Article XV of the Constitution which is
violated by the act of the Convention of calling for a plebiscite on the sole amendment contained
in Organic Resolution No. 1? - YES

Ruling:
 SC held that all amendments to be proposed by CC must be submitted to the people in a single
"election" or plebiscite. The amendment proposed to be submitted to a plebiscite was only the
first amendment the CC proposed. SC held that the plebiscite being called for the purpose of
submitting the same for ratification of the people on November 8, 1971 is not authorized by
Section 1 of Article XV of the 1935 Constitution1/, hence all acts of the Convention and the
respondent Comelec in that direction are null and void.
 Election, as stated in Art. XV, is singular which meant that the entire constitution must be
submitted for ratification at one plebiscite only. Furthermore, the people were not given a proper
 “frame of reference” in arriving at their decision because they had at the time no idea yet of
what the rest of the revised Constitution would ultimately be and therefore would be unable to
assess the proposed amendment in the light of the entire document. This is the “Doctrine of
Submission” which means that all the proposed amendments to the Constitution shall be
presented to the people for the ratification or rejection at the same time, NOT piecemeal.

Disposition: Petition is granted. Organic Resolution No. of 1971 Constitutional Convention and
corresponding implementing acts & resolutions of said convention were declared null and void.

Notes:
1/
ARTICLE XV – Amendments (1935 Constitution) - Section 1. The Congress in joint session
assembled, by a vote of three-fourths of all the Members of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives voting separately, may propose amendments to this Constitution or call a
convention for that purpose. Such amendments shall be valid as part of this Constitution when
approved by a majority of the votes cast at an election at which the amendments are submitted
to the people for their ratification.

Note: Provision unequivocably says "an election" which means only one.