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Tan vs. COMELEC [DECISION]

ABDUSAKUR M. TAN and BASARON BURAHAN, Petitioners versus COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, THE PROVINCIAL BOARD OF CANVASSERS OF SULU, THE MUNICIPAL BOARDS OF CANVASSERS OF MAIMBUNG, LUUK, TONGKIL, PANAMAO, ALL PROVINCE OF SULU, BENJAMIN LOONG and NUR-ANA SAHIDULLA, Respondents.

G.R. Nos. 166143-47 | 2006-11-20

D E C I S I O N
 
VELASCO, JR., J.:
 
 
We have found it necessary to regulate liberty;
so we find it necessary to regulate competition.[1]
 
—former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis

Election cases, indeed, "involve not only the adjudication of the private interests of rival candidates, but also the paramount need of dispelling the uncertainty which beclouds the real choice of the electorate x x x."[2] The public nature of election cases is ensconced in the people's suffrage—which encompasses public choices and interests. In their capacity as having sovereign authority, the...