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(c) A tie between or among the highest ranking sangguniang members shall be resolved by the drawing of lots. (d) The successors as defined herein shall serve only the unexpired terms of their predecessors. For purposes of this Chapter, a permanent vacancy arises when an elective local official fills a higher vacant office, refuses to assume office, fails to qualify, dies, is removed from office, voluntarily resigns, or is otherwise permanently incapacitated to discharge the functions of his office. For purposes of succession as provided in this Chapter, ranking in the sanggunian shall be determined on the basis of the proportion of votes obtained by each winning candidate to the total number of registered voters in each distribution the immediately preceding election." In the same vein, Article 83 of the Rules and Regulations Implementing, the Local Government Code of 1991 provides: "x x x. "ART. 83. Vacancies and Succession of Elective Local Officials.(a) What constitutes permanent vacancy - A permanent vacancy arises when an elective local official fills a higher vacant office, refuses to assume office, fails to qualify, dies, is removed from office, voluntarily resigns, or is otherwise permanently incapacitated to discharge the functions of his office. (b) Permanent vacancies in the offices of the governor, vice governor, mayor and vice mayor (1) If a permanent vacancy occurs in the office of the governor or mayor, the vice governor or vice mayor concerned shall ipso facto become the governor or mayor. If a permanent vacancy occurs in the offices of the governor, vice governor, mayor, or vice mayor, the highest ranking sanggunian member or, in case of his permanent inability, the second highest ranking sanggunian member, shall ipso facto become the governor, vice governor, mayor or vice mayor, as the

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Domingo v. Commission on Elections

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether there was sufficient evidence to conclude that the incumbent mayor prodded potential Board of Election Inspectors for the City?

Alleged Acts: The petitioner, Ernesto Domingo, Jr. and Benjamin Abalos, Jr. served a mayoral candidates for Mandaluyong City. The petitioner filed this action because Abalos, Jr. allegedly prodded the incumbent mayor Abalos, Sr. to give substantial allowances to public school teachers that were appointed as chairpersons to the Board of Election Inspectors for the City. Specifically, the incumbent mayor would provide the school teachers with hazard pay, food allowances, and additional allowances. The petitioner alleged that these payments clearly demonstrated Abalos, Jr.’s influence over his father. The petitioner submitted a video tape of a speech from the incumbent mayor, three public school teacher affidavits, and a steamer.

Procedural history: The petitioner alleges that Abalos, Jr. violated Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code. The Election Comission (COMELEC) dismissed these claims and admonished the petitioner for making false claims. On reconsideration, these findings were again affirmed. The petitioner alleges that the complaint was improperly dismissed because it was dismissed for lack of evidence where there was no hearing on the merits of the case.

Summary: The court determined that there was no violation of the right to due process because, precedent indicated that this merely meant the right to be heard through verbal arguments, pleadings, or similar nature. Further, the court looked to the evidence presented by the petitioner and stated that the affidavits failed to provide any evidence of knowledge on the part of Abalos, Jr., the streamer indicated a co-sponsored event was common, and that the video tape modified the nature of the speech to as to cut out the incumbent’s mayor mentioning on of another individual, not Abalos, Jr.

Conclusion: The court dismissed the petition for insufficient evidence and lack of merit. This decision affirmed the election the mayor of Mandaluyong City.

Legal Issue(s)

Civil Procedure
Electoral Integrity
EMB Independence
EMB Operation

Region: Asia-Pacific

Country: Phillippines

Language of Decision

English

Court: Trial Court

Election Type: Local

Date of decision: Dec 1, 1998

Geolocation

Latitude: 14.58001497

Longitude: 120.865012

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

Domingo v. Commission on Elections.pdf
English
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Domingo v. Commission on Elections

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