THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division has canceled the certificate of candidacy of south district candidate for councilor Sherwin Luie Abella after he was declared a nuisance candidate.
Marie Velle Abella, who also ran as a councilor under the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), had filed a petition last Oct. 22, 2018, questioning the candidacy of Sherwin who ran as independent.
In a resolution filed before the Comelec, it stated that Sherwin did not have any profession or occupation to finance a city-wide campaign, adding that Sherwin only ran to cause confusion among voters.
Last Nov. 8, Comelec summoned Sherwin to answer the petition filed against him, however he did not respond.
On Dec. 11, the Commission summoned Marie and Sherwin but the two could not make it. Another conference was set on Dec. 27, but only Marie and her lawyer were present.
Comelec election officer Marchel Sarno said Sherwin forfeited his rights to participate in the proceedings, adding that the Commission could not even locate him when it wanted to serve the resolution.
“Sherwin did not file anything to answer the petition filed against him. Every time we served a resolution, we could not locate him,” Sarno said.
Sarno explained that when a candidate is declared a nuisance, all his or her votes are automatically transferred to the candidate bearing the same surname if the position is intended for only one person like in the case of Paulino Osmeña and Tomas Osmeña. The same could not be applied to the case of the two Abellas, though, since they ran for city councilor which is a multi-position.
“We cannot decide immediately to transfer all the votes of Sherwin to (Marie) Abella since they ran for a position which requires eight (candidates) to be voted, so there may be some voters who voted (for) the two,” he said.
Sarno said they are waiting for the final ruling and decision of the First Division regarding the matter, which may affect the list of councilors in the south district.
In such case, the position of Cebu City Councilor Phillip Zafra, who ranked eighth, may be affected.
City Councilor Raymond Garcia, an ally of Zafra in Barug PDP-Laban, is confident the decision will not matter unless Marie files a protest against Zafra to recount the votes, however the protest period is over.
But Marie, a lawyer, is also confident that she will become the number eight councilor in the south district.
She said after she received the Comelec decision last Tuesday, July 2, she was sure the more than 20,000 votes that Sherwin garnered would be added to hers.
Marie was born in Labangon, became a voter in Punta Princesa and is now a resident of Tisa.
“I am sure the people of Labangon, Punta Princesa and Tisa will be proud of me as a city councilor,” she said.
She cited a case decided by the Supreme Court (SC) en banc on Sept. 4, 2018 stating: “Here, the crediting of the votes of the nuisance candidate to the legitimate candidate whose names are similar is a necessary consequence of the Comelec’s declaration that Rosalie is a nuisance candidate. Consequently, the transfer of votes of the nuisance candidate to the legitimate candidate can be validly accomplished in the execution proceedings of the nuisance case.”
“Accordingly, the Court consistently declared that the votes cast for the nuisance candidate must be credited in favor of the legitimate candidate with a similar name to give effect to, rather than frustrate the will of the voters, even if the declaration of the nuisance candidate became final only after the elections,” the SC. (With EOB)