Case Digest (G.R. No. 140560)
Facts:
Jovito O. Claudio v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 140560, and Preparatory Recall Assembly of Pasay City v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 140714, May 04, 2000, Supreme Court En Banc, Mendoza, J., writing for the Court.Petitioner Jovito O. Claudio was the duly elected Mayor of Pasay City who assumed office on July 1, 1998. In May 1999 chairs of several barangays in Pasay City organized and, on May 29, 1999, the Preparatory Recall Assembly (PRA) of Pasay City (1,073 members) adopted Resolution No. 01, S-1999 initiating recall proceedings for loss of confidence; Richard Advincula acted as PRA chair. A petition for recall was filed with the local COMELEC office on July 2, 1999 and posted in public places as required; election officer Ligaya Salayon verified the signatures on the resolution.
Mayor Claudio and others filed oppositions before the COMELEC, alleging procedural and substantive defects: that many signatures were merely attendance markings or representative signatories, that some signatories retracted support, that the PRA convening fell within the one-year prohibition of Section 74(b) of the Local Government Code (R.A. No. 7160), and that a pending election case (Trinidad v. COMELEC) should be resolved first. In its Resolution dated October 18, 1999, the COMELEC gave due course to the recall petition, found that a majority of PRA members had adopted the resolution (1,073 present against total membership figures of 1,790 and 1,876), verified 958 valid signatures, rejected the assertion that the pendency of the election protest was a prejudicial question, and ruled that the recall petition filed on July 2, 1999 was outside the one-year post-assumption bar.
Claudio petitioned the Court (G.R. No. 140560) for certiorari and prohibition to annul the COMELEC resolution; the PRA (represented by Advincula) filed a mandamus petition (G.R. No. 140714) to compel COMELEC to fix a recall election date. Oral arguments were held in Baguio City on April 4, 2000. The COMELEC subsequently set the recall election for Pasay City on April 15, 2000 (R...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Whether, under Section 74(b) of R.A. No. 7160, the word "recall" includes the preparatory steps (the convening of the PRA and its approval of a recall resolution) or is limited to the recall election itself.
- Whether the phrase "regular local election" in Section 74(b) includes the election period/campaign period (e.g., the 45- or 90-day election period) or refers only to the date of the regular local election.
- Whether the COMELEC erred in finding that the PRA resolution was supported by a majority and that the petition was duly verified (considering claimed double entries, withdrawals, att...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)