FORMER Mabalacat City mayor Marino “Boking” Morales and Vice Mayor Christian Halili are set to present new evidence and ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision on their electoral protests against Mayor Crisostomo Garbo.
Election lawyer and senatorial candidate Romulo Macalintal is set to file a Motion for Reconsideration before the SC.
“Ang kaso po ni Mayor Boking Morales sa Korte Suprema ay tuloy tuloy pa din po at kami pong kanyang mga abogado ay maghahain ng mga dagdag pang mga argumento upang mapatunayan na siya ang karapat dapat na mayor ng Mabalacat City, Pampanga,” said Macalintal.
(The case of Mayor Boking Morales before the Supreme Court is ongoing and us, his lawyers, will present additional arguments to prove that he is the rightful mayor of Mabalacat City), said Macalintal.
“Hindi lamang po naming maaring talakayin ang detalya ng kaso niya dahil pending pa po ito pero makakaasa po kayo na naniniwala kaming metatag ang kanyang kaso at sa huli, kami umaasa na si Mayor Boking ang mananaig,” he added.
(We cannot just tackle the details of his case because it’s pending but you can expect that like us who believe his case is strong and in the end, we are hoping Mayor Boking will prevail), he added.
Morales, for his part, expressed hopes that the high court will issue an order favorable to him because of the new evidence.
With the “new evidence we are hoping the SC will side with us,” according to Morales, who is now running for vice-mayor.
Supporters of both Morales and Halili said the SC decision disenfranchised more than 40,000 voters.
The Supreme Court en banc earlier dismissed the petitions for certiorari filed separately by Morales and Halili against Garbo.
The petitions were filed days before Garbo assumed the mayorship after the Comelec en banc issued a Writ of Execution on June 8, 2017. The writ ordered the proclamation of Garbo as winner of the 2016 elections. Garbo was declared the winner on June 27, 2017.