A JUDGE in Bogo City, Cebu has dismissed the petition meant to stop Ian Christopher Escario from assuming as mayor of Bantayan.
Judge Antonio Marigomen of the Regional Trial Court Branch 61 in Bogo City dismissed for want of merit the petition for quo warranto filed by Antonio Montemar, who had asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent Escario from taking over the town’s highest post.
“The petitioner has no legal basis in filing a petition and the petitioner has no clear and unmistakable right to assume the position,” the order read.
Last May 8, 2017, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc in Manila proclaimed Escario as the duly elected mayor of Bantayan, Cebu.
Escario, who garnered 12,423 votes during the May 9, 2016, elections, replaced Arthur Despi, whose certificate of candidacy (COC) was revoked by both the Comelec’s En Banc and First Division and was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
But the petitioner, Montemar, filed the civil petition that sought a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction.
He asked the court to stop Escario from assuming his position as town mayor.
Replying to the petition, Mayor Escario said the petition ought to be dismissed outright for “utter lack of basis and merit.”
He said that his proclamation as the town mayor was duly recognized both by the court and the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Escario said he was proclaimed as the “rightful person” to occupy the town’s highest position being the duly elected mayor of Bantayan.
In the order, Judge Marigomen ruled that Escario is the duly elected mayor of Bantayan, Cebu based on the May 2016 elections.
Marigomen said that the Supreme Court and Comelec decisions have become final and executory.
Mayor Escario cannot be subjected to quo warranto proceedings and there is no vacancy in the mayor’s office, the judge said.
“The fact that the Comelec canceled the certificate of candidacy of (Arthur) Despi shows that his certificate of candidacy has been void from the beginning and thus, he was never a candidate in the first place,” the order read. (GMD)