Comelec junks Cagayan governor’s disqualification

By Vince Jacob Visaya

TUGUEGARAO CITY -- Citing lack of jurisdiction, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc dismissed the petition filed to disqualify Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba for his candidacy in the May 11, 2022 gubernatorial elections.
    In an 18-page resolution issued by the Comelec en banc on Monday, March 6, the commission's members dismissed the petition filed by Dr. Ma. Zarah Rose de Guzman-Lara, wife of Cagayan Third District Rep. Joseph Lara, due to lack of jurisdiction.
    Mamba said he was grateful for the Comelec en banc resolution of the case.
    "It is very fair to the 302,025 Cagayanos who voted according to their free will in the last election," Mamba said.
    The decision reversed the initial resolution of the Comelec Second Division that disqualified Gov. Mamba from running in the May 2022 polls.
    The resolution said the Comelec had no authority or jurisdiction to hear and resolve the petition because it was filed after the proclamation of Mamba who won for his third consecutive term as governor.
    It was signed by Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia and Commissioners Socorro Inting, Aimee Ferolino, Marlon Casquejo, Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr., Nelson Celis and Rey Bulay.
    The resolution said that based on existing laws and jurisprudence, any petition for the disqualification of a winning candidate is prohibited once it has been proclaimed.
    "The Commission cannot stress enough that the belated filing of the subject Petition is not merely a procedural lapse. It is jurisdictional infirmity that goes into the authority of the Commission to resolve the issues surrounding (Mamba's) disqualification. No amount of liberality can be used to disenfranchise the voters of Cagayan and frustrate the will of the electorate, especially so when the proceeding is devoid of jurisdiction. To accept a jurisdictional infirmity is to allow a blatant disregard of [the] law," a part of the resolution said.
    The resolution also stated that any criminal aspect of the said case should be referred to the Comelec's law department for preliminary investigation, citing the Lanot case where the Supreme Court emphasized the "separate and independent nature of the criminal and electoral aspects of a disqualification case."
    The Comelec, in a statement, said Mamba may or may not still be disqualified depending upon the outcome of the law department's investigation.
    The resolution issued by the Comelec Second Division that Lara cited the governor's culpability for spending the provincial capitol's public funds allegedly in the guise of pandemic assistance.
    Mamba's lawyers said they got an exception from the Comelec en banc for the provincial government's "No Barangay Left Behind" program, a regular capitol program which also had an exception during the 2019 elections.