A.M. No. P-02-1659 - Office of the Court Administrator vs. Sirios

The petitioner, Tomas de Guzman, sought a writ of mandamus against the Provincial Board of Canvassers of La Union.
The objective was to have the board annul all votes cast for the respondent, Juan T. Lucero, correct the election return, and proclaim de Guzman as duly elected as provincial governor.

On June 22, 1925, the provincial board convened for the purpose of counting votes for provincial officers.
The count revealed that de Guzman obtained 7,662 votes while Juan T. Lucero received 8,771 votes.

Under section 404 of the Election Law, as amended by section 3 of Act No. 3030, candidates were required to file a certificate of candidacy duly verified (sworn to).
The petition alleged that:

Juan T. Lucero’s certificate of candidacy was defective because it was not sworn to, despite being filed on April 15, 1925, with the appropriate receipt from the provincial secretary.
In contrast, Tomas de Guzman’s certificate of candidacy complied fully with the legal requirements.

The petitioner argued that the failure of Lucero’s certificate to be sworn to rendered him ineligible, thus invalidating his certification as governor-elect.

Lack of subject-matter jurisdiction of the court over the case.
Lack of personal jurisdiction over the members of the now-extinguished provincial board of canvassers.
Insufficiency of the facts alleged in the complaint to constitute a valid cause of action.

The pivotal factual inquiry became whether Lucero had indeed met the requirements for filing a certificate of candidacy in accordance with the law.

Section 41 of Act No. 3030 mandated that only those candidates who obtained the highest number of votes and filed certificates of candidacy in strict compliance with section 404 are to be certified elected.
Section 404 (as amended) required that the certificate of candidacy be “duly verified”, implying that it must be sworn to.
Prior jurisprudence (e.g., Viola vs. Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur and Adolfo, Gardiner vs. Romulo, and Lino Luna vs. Rodriguez) was cited in relation to the mandatory versus directory nature of election law requirements.

Whether or not the respondent, Juan T. Lucero, filed his certificate of candidacy in accordance with the legal requirement of being “duly verified” (sworn to) as mandated by section 404 of the Election Law (as amended by Act No. 3030).
If it is determined that there was a defect in the filing (i.e., failure to swear to the certificate), whether such technical irregularity should warrant the annulment of the votes cast for Lucero and compel the board to issue a writ of mandamus to correct the election return in favor of de Guzman.