JAEN, Nueva Ecija –– May the Commission on Elections, under the Omnibus Election Code, direct the Department of the Interior and Local Government, specifically its regional director, to implement its order?
While Comelec Resolution No. 10673 provides that all orders and documents issued by the Commission shall be served to all the counsel or parties through their official e-mail addresses, is the service of its Feb. 3,2021 via e-mail to DILG Central Luzon director Julie Daquioag valid when the DILG is not a party in the subject electoral protest?
These were the questions answered in the affirmative by the Comelec Second Division in its March 1, 2021 order which now expressly deputizes DILG, through Sec. Eduardo Año or his officer-in-charge “to implement and execute” its Jan. 12 status quo ante order (SQAO) that reinstates Mayor Sylvia Austria.
The order, signed by Presiding Commissioner Socorro Inting and Senior Member Antonio Kho, Jr., asked the DILG to do act “with dispatch and report to the Commission within three days there from.”
The March 1 order stemmed from a Feb. 9 clarificatory letter from Undersecretary Bernardo Florece, Jr., OIC-SILG, that sought clarification on the aforementioned twin issues.
Citing various jurisprudence and the DILG’s own Circular No. 2010-09 regarding Delegation of Authority – DILG-LG Sector, the Comelec said it is within its “umbrella of authority that the Commission (Second Division) directed the DILG ” to implement the SQAO.
“As it is the Department’s (DILG’s) very function to assist the President in the exercise of general supervision over local governments, including public elective officials in the local government units,” the Comelec said.
It described Florece’s action of seeking clarification as “highly unusual.”
The Comelec stressed that the order to implement the SQAO was sent not only to Daquioag but also to Undersecretary for Local Government Mario Iringan and Florece.
Section 4, Rule 2 of Resolution 10673 which provides for the use of electronic mail addresses was in response to the coronavirus disease pandemic, the Comelec division stressed.
“As there is no prohibition against such service, the Commission adapted the same rule in the service to the DILG as a deputized agency in order to effect the rationale of the Comelec resolution,” it said.
Earlier, on Feb. 16, the Comelec division denied for lack of merit the motion of sitting Mayor Antonio Prospero Esquivel to prevent Inting from hearing their electoral dispute.
Esquivel is locked in a legal battle with Austria who was forced to step down from her post after a local court ruled in favor of the election protest filed by Esquivel.
Austria filed a petition at the Comelec questioning the legality of Esquivel’s court-ordered victory.
On Feb. 3, the Comelec issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court Branch 87 that upheld Esquivel’s victory in the May 2019 elections.
But Esquivel questioned the TRO through a motion and insisted that the Comelec has no jurisdiction over the local court’s order. He said the TRO or status quo order “trampled upon his right to due process.” But the Comelec also dismissed it, arguing that it has the authority to issue provisional remedies to “prevent irreparable injury” in the town’s contested mayoral seat.
As of press time, Esquivel remains in power as town mayor.
On Feb. 10, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Debold Sinas linked two earlier explosions in the town to the leadership crisis.
In a statement, Sinas said the two blasts near the town hall had “all the indications of a political motive apparently related to the contested mayoral seat.”
“I urge both parties to keep their respective political supporters under control and to refrain from taking actions detrimental to public order and safety,” Sinas said then.
