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King Prajadhipok’s Institute 23

B. Philippines: The Commission on Elections

(COMELEC)

Brief History (http://www.comelec.gov.h/?r=AboutCOMELEC/

HistoricalBackground)

The COMELEC, which marked its 75 anniversary in 2015, is the
th
principal government agency tasked by the Constitution to enforce and

administer all laws and regulations concerning the conduct of regular
and special elections. It is a body that is designed to be constitutionally
independent of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of

government to ensure the conduct of free, fair and honest elections.
As an added measure, the constitution also grants fiscal autonomy to the

Commission to enable the COMELEC to operate effectively, efficiently
and free from political interference.

Institutionalization. The Commission on Elections was created
by a 1940 amendment to the 1935 Constitution, and its membership was
enlarged and its powers expanded by the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions.

Before the creation of the Commission in 1940, supervision
over the conduct of elections was vested in the Executive Bureau, an

office under the Department of Interior and later directly vested in the
Department itself when the Executive Bureau was abolished.

There was, however, general dissatisfaction over the manner in

which elections were conducted under the supervision of the Secretary
of the Interior. There was growing suspicion that Secretaries of the

Interior administered election laws, not for the purpose of securing honest
and free elections, but to serve the political interest of the party in