Tuba mayor keeps post as Comelec affirms decision

TUBA, Benguet -- The Commission on Elections has affirmed a resolution of its first division dismissing for utter lack of merit an election protest filed by candidate Ignacio Rivera against Tuba Mayor Florencio B. Bentrez.

In an en banc resolution written by Commissioner Nicodemo T. Ferrer, the Comelec stated the protestant failed to adduce, identify, and show any error in the questioned resolution of the first division, hence there was no reason for the commission en banc to overturn the ruling.

The resolution was concurred in by Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento, Moslemen T. Macarambon, Leonardo L. Leonida, and Lucenito N. Tagle. Sarmiento, chairman of the first division, wrote a six-page separate concurring opinion. Comelec Chairman Jose A. R. Melo took no part.

Bentrez, assisted by lawyer Francisco B. Sibayan of Sibayan & Associates, was proclaimed the duly elected mayor of Tuba in the May 14, 2007 elections with a total of 4,752 votes, posting a margin of 418 votes over Rivera, his closest rival, who obtained 4,334 votes.

Rivera, alleging that electoral fraud caused him to lose the election, filed an election protest
against Bentrez. The protest was raffled off to Branch 63 of the Regional Trial Court of Benguet presided by Judge Benigno M. Galaccag.

Bentrez filed through Sibayan a motion to dismiss the protest on the ground that the protestant failed to pay the correct cash deposit, but it was denied.

A motion for reconsideration was also denied by the RTC judge, prompting Bentrez to seek a restraining order from the Comelec to stop the enforcement of the order of the RTC judge, arguing that Rivera’s failure to pay the correct cash deposit violated Rule 7, Section 2, of the Rules of Procedure in Election Contests before the Courts involving Elective Municipal and Barangay officials.

The Comelec’s first division presided by Sarmiento granted the petition for a temporary restraining order, saying that under the law, the court is required to dismiss an election protest if the cash deposit is not paid within five days from the date of filing.

Rivera filed with the Comelec en banc a motion for reconsideration, alleging that there was serious error in the appreciation of facts by the first division.

But the Comelec en banc said it found no reason to depart from the resolution rendered by the First Division, citing the provisions of Section 2 of Rule 7 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure which states that the failure to make the cash deposits required within the prescribed time limit "shall result in the automatic dismissal of the protest, or counter-protest."

"Thus when any election protest lacks compliance with the essential requirements of the pertinent laws, this commission or the court a quo may in the exercise of its proper discretion order that the election protest be dismissed as the right of the electorate to have its duly elected government representatives continue to serve its constituents is always the paramount consideration," the Comelec said.