Case Digest (G.R. No. 135150)
Facts:
Romeo Lonzanida v. The Honorable Commission on Election and Eufemio Muli, G.R. No. 135150, July 28, 1999, the Supreme Court En Banc, Gonzaga-Reyes, J., writing for the Court.Petitioner Romeo Lonzanida had served two consecutive terms as Mayor of San Antonio, Zambales before the May 8, 1995 elections. In that election he was proclaimed winner, assumed office and discharged mayoral duties, but his proclamation was later challenged by his opponent Juan Alvez via an election protest filed in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Zambales.
On January 9, 1997 the RTC declared a failure of elections for the 1995 mayoralty contest and declared the mayoral office vacant. Both parties appealed to the COMELEC, which on November 13, 1997, after revising contested ballots, declared Alvez the duly elected mayor (1,720 votes to 1,488). On February 27, 1998 the COMELEC issued a writ of execution; Lonzanida vacated and Alvez assumed office for the remainder of the term.
For the May 11, 1998 elections Lonzanida filed a certificate of candidacy for mayor. On April 21, 1998 his opponent Eufemio Muli filed a petition with the COMELEC to disqualify Lonzanida on the ground that he had already served three consecutive terms. Lonzanida was proclaimed winner on May 13, 1998. On May 21, 1998 the COMELEC First Division granted Muli’s petition and declared Lonzanida disqualified, reasoning that Lonzanida’s 1995–1998 assumption of office counted as service of a full term; the COMELEC En Banc affirmed on August 11, 1998.
Lonzanida brought a petition for certiorari under Rule 65 to the Supreme Court seeking to set aside the COMELEC resolutions. He argued (1) the 1995–1998 period should not be counted as a term because he was not lawfully elected in 1995 (the COMELEC had later declared Alvez the winner), and (2) the COMELEC lost jurisdiction to decide the disqualification after Lonzanida’s proclamation in May 1998, so the proper remedy was quo warranto in the RTC. Private respondent Muli and the Solicitor General filed comments urging the Court to uphold COMELEC’s rulings, contending that (a) RA 6646 Sec. 6 and COMELEC procedural rules permit resolution of pre-election disqualification petitions even after pr...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did the COMELEC retain jurisdiction to hear and decide a petition for disqualification filed before the election but resolved after the candidate’s proclamation?
- For purposes of the three-term limit in Article X, Section 8 of the 1987 Constitution and Section 43(b) of the Local Government Code (R.A. No. 7160), should petitioner Lonzanida’s assumption of office from May 1995 to March 1998 be counted as service of one full term where his 1995 proclamation was later annulled a...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)