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Saturday, July 29, 2006
SC junks protest vs. Carmen mayor
Eleven months before his term expires, the Supreme Court (SC) finally resolved the issue whether Virginio Villamor is the lawful elected mayor of Carmen, Cebu.
In an en banc decision promulgated last July 21, the High Tribunal threw out a protest filed by former town mayor Amytis de Dios-Batao who ran against Villamor in the 2004 elections.
The protest, according to the SC, was filed out of time.
A constituted Municipal Board of Canvassers proclaimed Villamor mayor of Carmen last May 13.
Four days later, Batao filed a petition to annul the proclamation of petitioner before the Commission on Election (Comelec), alleging as grounds the illegal composition of the board of canvassers.
Dismissed
She also filed an election protest with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Danao City.
The protest was dismissed in an order dated June 24, 2004, with the court saying it was filed out of time. However, the case got reinstated in an order dated July 23, 2004 after Batao filed a motion for reconsideration.
Under Section 3, Rule 35 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure, an election protest should be filed within 10 days from the date of proclamation of the results of the election.
Villamor questioned the RTC ruling before the Comelec through a special proceeding. He also opposed the petition to annul the proclamation Batao filed and, in an order dated May 9, 2005, got a favorable ruling.
However, the Comelec Second Division, in a ruling dated April 11, 2005 and upheld by the commission en banc last Aug. 5, ruled against him in the electoral protest.
Hence, the petition for certiorari before the High Tribunal.
In ruling on the matter, the Supreme Court upheld the RTC’s first ruling, citing that the basis for the election protest was, like in the dismissed action against the proclamation, the alleged illegal composition of the board.
The High Court said the complaint should have been filed “immediately at the point where the proceedings are or begin to be illegal” or right before the proclamation began.
Timing
Citing a previous ruling in the Laodenio vs. Comelec case, the SC declared that “issues involving the illegal composition of the board cannot be questioned after the proclamation of the winner.”
“If the petition involves the illegal composition of the board of canvassers, it must be filed immediately when the board begins to act as such, or at the time of the appointment of the member whose capacity to sit as such is objected to if it comes after the canvassing of the board, or immediately at the point where the proceedings are or begin to be illegal,” it said.
Moreover, by going to court with her election protest, Batao can no longer pursue the original pre-proclamation controversy. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 29, 2006 issue)
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