Comelec junks protestvs mayor

By George Trillo

MABALACAT, Pampanga -- Mayor Marino Morales of this town is now well-entrenched in the mayoral post he has been occupying since 1995 after the Commission on Elections junked a petition to disqualify him from a purported fifth successive term.

The Comelec issued March 25 its verdict quashing for ‘’lack of merit’’ a motion for reconsideration filed by one Roberto Dizon, an ally of Morales’ political rival Anthony Dee, asking the poll body to reverse an earlier decision of the Comelec’s second division that also favored Morales.

The decision said the ‘’three-term limit is not applicable in the instant case’’ as it noted that ‘’the respondent was not the duly-elected mayor of Mabalacat for the July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2007 term primordially because he was not even considered a candidate.”

“The respondent has failed to serve the entire duration of the term of office because he had already relinquished the disputed office on May 16, 2007 which is more than a month prior to the end of his supposed term,” the Comelec verdict stated.

On May 17 last year, then vice mayor Cris Garbo took over as mayor of Mabalacat after Morales’ certificate of candidacy for the May 2004 synchronized national and local elections was cancelled by the Comelec which said Morales has actually filled in a fourth term in violation of the law limiting local officials to only three successive terms.

The Comelec, in its verdict, noted an ‘’involuntary break’’ in Morales’s term. ‘’The Constitution does not require the interruption or hiatus to be a full term of three years.

What the law requires is for an interruption, break or a rest period from a candidate’s term of office for any length of time.’’

‘’The privilege of holding office is a valuable one, laws prescribing qualifications and disqualifications for office should be liberally construed in favor of eligibility. Where a candidate, such as respondent, has received popular mandate, overwhelmingly and clearly expressed, all possible doubts should be resolved in favor of the candidate’s eligibility, for to rule otherwise it defeat the will of the people,’’ the verdict said.

The Comelec en banc added ‘’to successfully challenge a winning candidate’s qualifications, the petitioner must clearly demonstrate that the ineligibility is so patently antagonistic to constitutional and legal principles that overriding such ineligibility and thereby giving effect to the apparent will of the people would ultimately create greater prejudice to the very democratic institutions that the Constitution and laws so zealously protect and promote. This, petitioner clearly failed to do so.”

The en banc decision was penned by Comelec Acting Chairman Romeo Brawner and also signed by Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Nicodemo Ferrer and Moslemen Macarambon.

For his part, Morales said ‘’the voice of the people’’ has prevailed, even as he urged his poitical adversaries to ‘’respect the rule of law.’’

Morales said the Comelec en banc ruling was relayed to him by his lawyers Romulo Macalintal and Arnold Bayobay.