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The COMMISSION
ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC) is mandated to give
life and meaning to the basic principle that sovereignty
resides in the people and all government authority
emanates from them. It is an independent constitutional
body created by a 1940 amendment to the 1935 Constitution.
Since then, its membership was enlarged and its
powers expanded by the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions.
The Commission exercises not only administrative
and quasi-judicial powers, but judicial power as
well. Before the creation of the Commission, supervision
over the conduct of elections was vested in the
Executive Bureau, an office under the Department
of the Interior, and later directly vested in the
Department itself. The close official relationship
between the President and the Secretary of the Interior
and the perceived compelling influence of the former
over the latter bred suspicion that electoral exercises
were manipulated to serve the political interest
of the party to which they belonged.
The National Assembly was impelled to propose the
creation by constitutional amendment of an independent
Commission on Elections. The amendment was ratified
by the Filipino people in a plebiscite on June 17,
1940 and approved on December 2, 1940.
Through the years, the Commission has managed
to maintain its authority and independence in
the conduct of elections. Actions and decisions
of this body that appeared to strain the limits
of its powers were, in most cases, sustained by
the Supreme Court, thereby reinforcing its position
as the constitutionally ordained guardian of the
ballot.
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 Hon. Benjamin S. Abalos, Sr., Commissioner
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COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC)
Intramuros, Manila
Tel. No. : 527-5412/ 527-2772/ 527-0834
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www.comelec.gov.ph
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Chairman
Benjamin S. Abalos, Sr.
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Regional
COMELEC Offices (except NCR)
NCR
COMELEC Offices
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