Case Digest (G.R. No. 106270-73)
Facts:
Sultan Mohamad L. Mitmug v. Commission on Elections, Municipal Board of Canvassers of Lumba‑Bayabao, Lanao del Sur, and Datu Gambai Dagalangit, G.R. Nos. 106270-73, February 10, 1994, the Supreme Court En Banc, Bellosillo, J., writing for the Court.Petitioner Sultan Mohamad L. Mitmug and private respondent Datu Gambai Dagalangit were mayoralty candidates in Lumba‑Bayabao, Lanao del Sur, where there were sixty‑seven (67) precincts for the 11 May 1992 elections. Voter turnout was abnormally low: in forty‑nine (49) precincts only 2,330 of 9,830 registered voters (22.26%) cast ballots; five (5) precincts recorded no actual voting at all (Precincts Nos. 18‑B‑1, 28, 28‑A, 30 and 30‑A). COMELEC ordered special elections on 30 May 1992 in the five precincts that failed to function; a special election for an additional precinct (No. 22‑A) was held on 30 July 1992.
Petitioner filed a petition challenging the 30 May 1992 special election alleging alteration, tampering and substitution of ballots, but COMELEC considered that petition moot on 13 July 1992 because the votes had already been counted. Other mayoralty candidates filed multiple petitions with COMELEC: Datu Gamba Dagalangit filed SPA No. 92‑324 (alleging torn ballots in Precinct 22‑A) which COMELEC granted and set a special election for 25 July 1992; Datu Elias Abdusalam filed SPA No. 92‑336 to declare failure of election in 29 precincts alleging tampering and clustering, which COMELEC dismissed on 16 July 1992 for lack of absolute inability to vote; SPC No. 92‑368 (seeking exclusion of ballots from six precincts) was treated as moot; and SPA No. 92‑347 (seeking failure of election in all 67 precincts for massive disenfranchisement) was dismissed on 9 July 1992.
On 8 July 1992 petitioner moved to intervene in those petitions; COMELEC treated the pleading as a motion for reconsideration and denied it as a prohibited pleading under the COMELEC Rules. A new Board of Election Inspectors was formed for the special election set on 25 July; the Board convened on 30 July 1992, canvassed votes, and Datu Gambai Dagalangit was proclaimed mayor on 31 July 1992.
On 3 August 1992 petitioner filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court (challenging COMELEC's actions) docketed as G.R. No. 106270, praying among other things for a declaration of failure of election in the forty‑nine precincts and a temporary restraining order to enjoin the proclaimed winner from assuming office. On 10 August 1992 petitioner also filed an election protest with the Regional Trial Court of Lanao del Sur (Docket No. 167‑92). Respondents argued that by filing the election protest petitioner had abandoned his certiorari petition; petitioner countered that the election protest was filed ex abundante cautela and that he had notified the trial court of the pendency of his Supreme Court petition.
COMELEC Rules — specifically the provisions on failure of election (Sec. 2, Rule 26, incorporating Sec. 6, B.P. 881) and the requirement...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did petitioner abandon his petition for certiorari by filing an election protest with the Regional Trial Court, thereby depriving the Supreme Court of jurisdiction?
- Did the Commission on Elections commit grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in denying, without hearing, the petitions to declare failure of election in the contest...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)