Friday, February 15, 2008
Comelec stops 'winner' from sitting as mayor
DEMETRIO Granada’s assumption of the Office of the Mayor in Tudela, one of the towns in the island of Camotes, Cebu, will have to wait.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in a two-page order yesterday, restrained, for the next 60 days, the enforcement of a court order granting Granada the authority to assume office.
Judge Edito Enemecio, presiding over the 25th branch of the Regional Trial Court based in Danao City, earlier declared Granada the winner in the recount made of the town’s May 2007 election returns.
Enemecio, in an order dated Jan. 9, also allowed Granada to assume the post and to hold on to it unless Rogelio Baquerfo wins in the appeal he lodged.
But Baquerfo, through lawyer Noel Archival, filed for a special proceeding before the Comelec following the Jan. 9 ruling.
“Finding the motion to be well taken, in the interest of justice and so as not to render the issues raised moot and academic, and the proceeding before this honorable commission a useless exercise, hereby grants the same,” read the ruling signed by Commissioners Romeo Brawner and Moslemen Macarambon.
“Accordingly, a temporary restraining order is hereby issued, effective immediately and for a period of 60 days,” it added.
With a margin of only eight votes, Baquerfo was declared the mayor of Tudela during the May 2007 elections.
Granada, who held the post previously, filed an election protest that was resolved via recount. Enemecio said Granada actually won by a margin of 13.
Assuming beforehand that Baquerfo would be appealing the ruling before the Comelec, Granada filed a motion for execution pending appeal.
Appeal
Baquerfo, on the other hand, filed a motion for inhibition against Enemecio as well as his appeal.
Enemecio denied the motion for inhibition and granted the motion for execution pending appeal.
“If the protestant (Granada) will have to wait for the finality of the election protest, it will not be remote that he may not be able to exercise at all the functions of the office for which he was elected by the people of Tudela, Camotes, Cebu,” Enemecio said in his order.
In his ruling, Enemecio, among other things, said it was what was best for public interest.
“It is well established that all election cases, especially protest cases, are imbued with public interest and, it is neither fair nor just to keep in office for an uncertain period, one whose rights is under suspicion,” the ruling read.
“If the protestant will have to wait for the finality of the election protest, it will not be remote that he may not be able to exercise at all the functions of the office for which he was elected by the people,” it added. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 15, 2008 issue)
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