MABALACAT CITY – The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday dismissed the appeal of former Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales and affirmed the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) cancelling his certificate of candidacy (COC) and ordering the proclamation of Mayor Crisostomo C. Garbo as the qualified mayoralty candidate.
The Comelec’s First Division in a decision on August 3, 2016 cancelled Morales’ COC void ab initio (from the beginning) and all votes cast in his favor declared stray.
Morales got 40,174 votes in the 2016 polls as against Garbo’s 17,710 votes.
The First Division also ordered the Board of Canvassers to reconvene and annul the proclamation of Morales and proclaim Garbo.
In arriving at the decision, the First Division ruled that Pyra Lucas’ petition, which she filed on January 4, 2016, was a petition for cancellation of COC under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code and it was timely filed debunking the contention of Morales in his verified answer that it was filed “out of time.”
The Comelec also said Morales committed material misrepresentation in his COC stating that he is eligible to run as mayor of Mabalacat City when in fact he was not because he violated the three-term limit rule (Section 8, Article X of the Constitution and Section 43 of the Local Government Code) after having served for the same local government post for three consecutive terms prior to the 2016 elections.
The SC cited the case of Latasa versus the Comelec where it was ruled that the conversion of a municipality into a city does not constitute an interruption of the incumbent official’s continuity of service.
The SC also cited similar cases in Sorsogon City and Zambales.
On May 26, 2017, the Comelec sitting en banc denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Morales for lack of merit and affirmed the resolution of its First Division.
On June 1, 2017, Lucas filed a motion for execution and a subsequent manifestation alleging the finality of the Comelec en banc resolution.
But Morales filed an opposition to the motion for execution. On June 2, 2017, Vice Mayor Christian Halili also filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition with application for temporary restraining order (TRO) and status quo ante order with the SC.
On June 5, 2017, Morales also filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition with urgent prayer for issuance of TRO and status quo ante order or writ of preliminary injunction with motion for special raffle.
On June 8, 2017, the Comelec issued a writ of execution ordering Morales to “cease and desist” from performing the functions of mayor of Mabalacat City and ordered the proclamation of Garbo as the duly elected mayor of Mabalacat City.
The SC ruling affirming the decision of the Comelec was signed by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio with the concurrence of Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin and Justices Diosdado M. Peralta, Mariano C. Del Castillo, Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe and Marvic M.V.F. Leonen.
