THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) dismissed a petition to disqualify the Bagong Henerasyon (BH) party-list from the May 12 polls citing the petitioner's failure to comply with mandatory requirements.
The Comelec 1st Division's three-page order stated that Russel Geronimo, the petitioner, did not meet the necessary requirements for filing a disqualification petition.
"Settled is the rule that failure to comply with a mandatory requirement warrants the dismissal of the Petition," said the Comelec 1st Division.
"In view of the foregoing, the Commission (First Division) hereby resolves to dismiss the instant Petition," it added.
The poll body said the petitioner failed to serve a copy of the petition to the respondent personally. Instead, the petitioner used registered mail.
"Nonetheless, Petitioner did not submit an affidavit stating the reasons or circumstances as to why personal service was not feasible or that Respondents refused to receive the Petition or that Respondents' whereabouts cannot be ascertained," said the Commission.
The petitioner also failed to attach a copy of the Certificate of Nomination-Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination (CON-CAN).
"The aforementioned CON-CAN must be submitted in order for this petition to be considered sufficient in form," said the Comelec 1st Division.
In the petition filed on May 14, BH party-list was accused of abusing state resources.
BH allegedly placed campaign material in a barangay hall. The barangay chairman is one of the party-list nominees.
No proclamation yet
Despite the dismissal, Comelec has not proclaimed the BH party-list which won one seat with 319,803 votes.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they must wait for the decision to become final.
"We will have to see what kind of remedy the petitioner will avail now that the case has been dismissed. Thus, there will still be no proclamation of the BH party-list," said Garcia.
The petitioner has five days to appeal the order. If no appeal is filed, the ruling becomes final.
"In such a scenario, the National Board of Canvassers will order the proclamation of the party-list and its nominee," said Garcia. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)