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This Petition for Certiorari with Prayer for the Issuance of a Writ of Preliminary Injunction and/or Temporary Restraining Order [1] under Rule 65, in relation to Rule 64 of the Rules of Court, seeks the nullification of the Resolution[2] dated 30 January 2008 of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc. Said Resolution denied the Motion for Reconsideration of the earlier Resolution[3] dated 24 July 2007 of the COMELEC Second Division in SPA No. 07-224, ordering the disqualification of herein petitioner Rosalinda A. Penera (Penera) as a candidate for the position of mayor of the Municipality of Sta. Monica, Surigao del Norte (Sta. Monica) in the 2007 Synchronized National and Local Elections. The antecedents of the case, both factual and procedural, are set forth hereunder: Penera and private respondent Edgar T. Andanar (Andanar) were mayoralty candidates in Sta. Monica during the 14 May 2007 elections. On 2 April 2007, Andanar filed before the Office of the Regional Election Director (ORED), Caraga Region (Region XIII), a Petition for Disqualification[4] against Penera, as well as the candidates for Vice-Mayor and Sangguniang Bayan who belonged to her political party,[5] for unlawfully engaging in election campaigning and partisan political activity prior to the commencement of the campaign period. The petition was docketed as SPA No. 07-224. Andanar claimed that on 29 March 2007 a day before the start of the authorized campaign period on 30 March 2007 Penera and her partymates went around the differentbarangays in Sta. Monica, announcing their candidacies and requesting the people to vote for them on the day of the elections. Attached to the Petition were the Affidavits of individuals[6] who witnessed the said incident.

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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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