Comelec junks petition to disqualify Pilar mayor

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Comelec junks petition to disqualify Pilar mayor

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NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHE IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.

“Wherefore, premises considered, the petition is hereby denied for lack of merit,” the Comelec Resolution reads.

Her perennial political opponent and former Mayor Engr. Wilson Pajo, who she trounced in the 2019 elections, filed the said petition seeking to deny due course to and/or cancel COC filed by Cubrado.

Petitioner said that “Cubrado committed material misrepresentation when she filed her COC that she is eligible to run for the position of Mayor of Pilar in relation to May 9, 2022 elections.”

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The said petition was docketed as SPA No.21-106 (DC). Comelec’s verdict in favor of Cubrado was promulgated on December 2, 2021, and signed by Commissioner Socorro B. Inting (presiding) and Commissioner Antonio T. Kho, records showed.

In rendering the said decision, Comelec had this to say: “In sum, the commission finds no compelling reason to grant the relief prayed for by the petitioner. Respondent is not barred by the three-term limit to the fact that there is an interruption during her second term when she was dismissed from office and prior to her reinstatement. She was not disqualified from seeking the same elective post in 2022 NLE.”

 “For the commission to declare otherwise would be to create a dangerous precedent  unintended by the drafters of the Constitution.”

Comelec said “interruption to be considered, contemplates a rest period during which the local elective official steps down from office and ceases to exercise power or authority over the inhabitants of the territorial jurisdiction of a particular local government unit. This is the case of the respondent (Cubrado) when she was removed from office.”

Comelec said that in dismissing the said petition the respondent was in fact removed twice—- on September 12, 2017 and then on August 15, 2019 after she won in 2019 elections and took office.

It is only when the Court of Appeals (CA) decided to reinstate Cubrado as Pilar mayor. “These circumstances only show that there is a gap or interruption in respondent’s term which would not bar her from running as mayor in 2022 NLE (national and local elections).”

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It will be recalled that Cubrado was dismissed from service as mayor for her alleged legislative encroachment when she granted electric connections to almost a hundred poor residents in Pilar without the authority of the Sangguniang Bayan.

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But the CA absolved her of any wrongdoing, thus her reinstatement to her post.

In an exclusive interview, Mayor Cubrado said that justice is served and she is so grateful to all those who supported from the beginning of her struggle in legal battle. (rvo)

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), second division, has junked the petition filed against incumbent Pilar town Mayor Necitas Tabaranza Cubrado in connection with the latter’s filing of her certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor in national and local elections in May 9, 2022.

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“Wherefore, premises considered, the petition is hereby denied for lack of merit,” the Comelec Resolution reads.

Her perennial political opponent and former Mayor Engr. Wilson Pajo, who she trounced in the 2019 elections, filed the said petition seeking to deny due course to and/or cancel COC filed by Cubrado.

 ADVERTISEMENT 

Petitioner said that “Cubrado committed material misrepresentation when she filed her COC that she is eligible to run for the position of Mayor of Pilar in relation to May 9, 2022 elections.”

The said petition was docketed as SPA No.21-106 (DC). Comelec’s verdict in favor of Cubrado was promulgated on December 2, 2021, and signed by Commissioner Socorro B. Inting (presiding) and Commissioner Antonio T. Kho, records showed.

In rendering the said decision, Comelec had this to say: “In sum, the commission finds no compelling reason to grant the relief prayed for by the petitioner. Respondent is not barred by the three-term limit to the fact that there is an interruption during her second term when she was dismissed from office and prior to her reinstatement. She was not disqualified from seeking the same elective post in 2022 NLE.”

 “For the commission to declare otherwise would be to create a dangerous precedent  unintended by the drafters of the Constitution.”

Comelec said “interruption to be considered, contemplates a rest period during which the local elective official steps down from office and ceases to exercise power or authority over the inhabitants of the territorial jurisdiction of a particular local government unit. This is the case of the respondent (Cubrado) when she was removed from office.”

Comelec said that in dismissing the said petition the respondent was in fact removed twice—- on September 12, 2017 and then on August 15, 2019 after she won in 2019 elections and took office.

It is only when the Court of Appeals (CA) decided to reinstate Cubrado as Pilar mayor. “These circumstances only show that there is a gap or interruption in respondent’s term which would not bar her from running as mayor in 2022 NLE (national and local elections).”

It will be recalled that Cubrado was dismissed from service as mayor for her alleged legislative encroachment when she granted electric connections to almost a hundred poor residents in Pilar without the authority of the Sangguniang Bayan.

But the CA absolved her of any wrongdoing, thus her reinstatement to her post.

In an exclusive interview, Mayor Cubrado said that justice is served and she is so grateful to all those who supported from the beginning of her struggle in legal battle. (rvo)

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