"Sec. 6. Effect of Disqualification Case - Any candidate who has been
declared by final judgment to be disqualified shall not be voted for, and
the votes cast for him shall not be counted. If for any reason a
candidate is not declared by final judgment before an election to be
disqualified and he is voted for and receives the winning number of
votes in such election, the Court or Commission shall continue with
the trial and hearing of the action, inquiry or protest and, upon motion
of the complainant or any intervenor, may during the pendency thereof
order the suspension of the proclamation of such candidate whenever
the evidence of his guilt is strong."
Despite these laws and existing jurisprudence, Blanco contends
that COMELEC must follow the procedure in Resolution No. 2050 as
amended. We hold that COMELEC cannot always be straitjacketed by
this procedural rule. The COMELEC has explained that the resolution
was passed to take care of the proliferation of disqualification cases at
that time. It deemed it wise to delegate its authority to its Law
Department as partial solution to the problem. The May 8, 1995
elections, however, did not result in a surfeit of disqualification cases
which the COMELEC cannot handle. Hence, its decision to resolve
the disqualification case of Blanco directly and without referring it to its
Law Department is within its authority, a sound exercise of its
discretion. The action of the COMELEC is in accord with Section 28 of
R.A. No. 6646, viz:
"x x x.
"SEC. 28. Prosecution of Vote-Buying and Vote-selling. - The
presentation of a complaint for violations of paragraph (a) or (b) of
Section 261 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 881 supported by affidavits of
complaining witness attesting to the offer or promise by or of the
voter's acceptance of money or other consideration from the relatives,
leaders or sympathizers of a candidate, shall be sufficient basis for an
investigation to be immediately conducted by the Commission, directly
or through its duly authorized legal officers under Section 68 or
Section 265 of said Batas Pambansa Blg. 881. (emphasis supplied)
"x x x."