MABALACAT CITY – The Supreme Court sitting en banc has ordered the barangay captain of Sta. Maria to vacate his post in favor of his rival “effective immediately.”
In a resolution dated April 2, the High Tribunal affirmed the decision on May 24, 2011 of the 6thMunicipal Circuit Trial Court of Mabalacat and Magalang and a subsequent Special Order by the same court on June 3, 2011 in which Barangay Captain Ernesto Miranda was ordered to “vacate his seat and to cease and desist from further discharging the duties and functions officially vested in the Office of the Punong Barangay…”
The same court also ordered the conferment of Cesar G. Manalo as Sta. Maria barangay captain “who is hereby ordered to act, perform and discharge the duties, functions and responsibilities… of the Office of the Punong Barangay…”
The SC also directed the Commission on Elections and the Department of Interior and Local Government to comply with the decision of the lower court favoring Manalo.
Records showed that in the barangay elections held last October 25, 2010 there were three candidates for barangay captain where eventually, Miranda was proclaimed winner by one vote over Manalo.
But on November 4, 2010, Manalo filed an election protest to contest the results of the election on the grounds of “misreading or misappreciation of the ballots, the number of votes reflected on the tally sheet did not reflect the same number of votes in the tally board and in order to come up with the same number of votes, one of the members of the Board of Tellers merely copied what was stated in the tally sheet” among others.
After a revision of the ballots, the final tally of the court’s appreciation of the ballots showed that Manalo garnered 344 votes from 343 while Miranda got 333 from 344 with the former having a plurality of 11 votes.
The court declared Manalo as “the true choice for Punong Barangay (Barangay Captain) of Sta. Maria…” while ordering Miranda to immediately vacate his seat.
In a subsequent order by the lower court, Presiding Judge Ma. Magdalena A. Balderama said “the victory of protestant (Manalo) was clearly established;” and that “public interest demands that the true choice of the electorate must be respected and given meaning.”
Balderama also said “public policy underlies it as something had to be done to strike the death blow at the pernicious grab-the-proclamation-prolong-the-protest technique often if not invariably resorted to by unscrupulous politicians (Balajondia vs. Comelec et al, G.R. No. 166032, Feb. 28. 2005).”
