Comelec ouster order mere peanuts for Morales, but illegal drugs rap a novelty

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    MABALACAT CITY – The order of the First Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ousting from office this city’s Mayor Marino Morales was, historically for him, mere peanuts. He had survived such orders. And, ironically, even prolonged his hold on the mayorship of Mabalacat which started in 1995.

    But his being implicated in illegal drugs by no less than Pres. Duterte, is novelty. Equipped with denials, however, Morales is hopeful of survival.

    In a video taken in his home early Sunday morning and distributed via the internet, Morales, reputed to be the country’s longest staying mayor, lauded the President for his anti -illegal drugs campaign but said he has never been a protector of drug lords.

    He said he was “saddened” by the report, but that he was ready to face probers.

    “I am willing to undergo any investigation to prove my innocence para naman ma proteksiyonan natin ang integrity of my family, myself, and the people who had trusted me and voted for me for the past years,” he said.

    He stressed “I am innocent and have no involvement with illegal drugs now or in the past. I will cooperate with any investigation or inquiry in order to clear my name and my family.”

    Morales said he “is confident that the truth will in the end vindicate me.”

    Expressing support for the President, he cited plans to establish a Mabalacat Drug Rehabilitation Center which he described as “ the first ever public facility that aims to treat victims of illegal drugs.”

    Morales also noted “ more than 900 illegal drug users and pushers who had surrendered or were rounded up by authorities in Mabalacat City last July.

    Morales said he planned to meet with the President to “clear” his name and his being named in the list of mayors who are either protectors or illegal drugs dealers. He said the President’s announcement has aff ected his family.

    “I laud the President for his determination and dedication to his mission against illegal drugs,” Morales said, but again insisted on his innocence.

    Only last Aug. 2, the Comelec’s First Division “cancelled” Morales’ certifi cate of candidacy (COC) and ordered this city’s council to “reconvene and annul” his mayoral proclamation.

    In its 10-page order, the Comelec said Morales “committed material misrepresentation when he cited in his COC that he is eligible to run for mayor of Mabalacat City when in truth and in fact he is not.”

    Morales said, however, that the order was not fi nal and executory and would be appealed before the Comelec en banc. The petition was filed by his political adversary Pyra Lucas who placed fourth in the last mayoral race here, with provincial board member Chris Garbo landing second to Morales in the number of garnered votes.

    Morales’ camp said that the case could even reach the Supreme Court, a familiar pattern that made Morales the country’s longest mayoral termer, having been effectively the mayor of this city as a mere municipality way back in 1995.

    In the last elections, Morales’ lawyer Romulo Macalintal said “while the Comelec is duty bound to accept Morales’s fi ling of candidacy, it can also entertain any petition to disqualify the mayor.”

    Macalintal said Morales is the country’s longest mayoral termer but through no fault of his own. He noted that Morales has remained mayor as a result of protests of his former political adversaries that led to his fresh mayoral terms.

    By some legal twist in the past, electoral protests prolonged instead of cutting short Morales’ mayoral terms.

    After three terms, Boking ran anew for mayor in 2004 in what could have been his fourth term. He took advantage of a Comelec ruling, rendered rather belatedly, that his opponent Anthony Dee was the true winner in the previous 2001 elections, thus creating what was supposed to be a gap in his term that entitled him to run anew in the 2004 polls and entitled him to fresh three-year terms.

    When Morales won again in 2004, a supporter of his opponent filed a protest insisting that the mayor was on his fourth term in violation of law. Again in a belated move, the Comelec ordered Morales on May 9, 2007, to turn over his post to his vice mayor who was able to sit only from May 9 to June 30.

    Unfazed, Morales ran again in the next election in 2010 and won, but his election was again challenged.

    The poll case reached the Supreme Court, which handed down in 2009 a unanimous verdict saying Morales “was not the duly elected mayor of Mabalacat for the 2004-2007 term” and that he did not serve his full term for that period. This again entitled Morales, who actually served as mayor during the cited period, to again run for mayor on the bases of the supposed gap in his term.

    When Mabalacat became a city in 2012, Morales insisted he was entitled to more mayoral terms as he was merely in his first term as city mayor. Thus, he ran and won in 2013 and 2016 elections.

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