CEBU City councilor Jerry Guardo can now breathe easily.
This after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) officially proclaimed him as a winning councilor candidate under Cebu City's North District after the disqualification of certificate of candidacy of former councilor Alvin Arcilla.
The Special City Board of Canvassers (SCBOC) proclaimed Guardo after the Comelec En Banc ordered them to convene at their office in Intramuros, Manila on Monday morning, July 1, 2019.
Guardo will now be able to serve a second term as city councilor.
“God's ways are better than our ways. His plans are better than our plan,” Guardo said, in his Facebook post.
Guardo will take his oath of office before Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella tomorrow, July 2, at 8:30 a.m.
Guardo, who garnered 99,115 votes which made him placed ninth during the May 13, 2019 national and local elections, replaced Arcilla after Comelec issued a certificate of finality cancelling his COC on the grounds that he had used up all three terms and could no longer seek another term.
Arcilla was among 12 councilors, including Labella and former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who were suspended for six months in 2016 for granting P20,000 in calamity aid to all officials and employees of Cebu City Hall in the wake of the Bohol earthquake and Typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
Arcilla ran for a third term in the council in 2016 and won.
He filed his COC for the recent May 13 elections despite the three-term limit imposed by the 1987 Constitution (JJL)