G.R. No. L-52431 - Farinas vs. Commission on Elections

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193 Phil. 394

EN BANC

[ G.R. No. 52431. July 30, 1981 ]

RODOLFO C. FARINAS, PETITIONER, VS. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS AND ANTONIO F. LAZO, RESPONDENTS.

D E C I S I O N

AQUINO, J.:

Rodolfo Farinas, 28, filed on January 4, 1980 with the election registrar of Laoag City his certificate of candidacy is the standard bearer of the Nacionalista Party the position of mayor of that city in the election held on January 30, 1980.

At four-thirty in the afternoon of that same day he filed with the Commission on Elections in Manila another certificate of candidacy wherein he indicated that he was nominated by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan as its official candidate for mayor of Laoag City.

At the same time, he wrote to the election registrar at Laoag City a letter withdrawing his certificate of candidacy under the banner of the Nacionalista Party. Farinas said that his first certificate of candidacy was a mistake since he was actually running as a KBL candidate (p. 44, Rollo).

On January 8, 1980, Ernesto T. Farinas wrote a letter informing the provincial election registrar at Laoag City that Rodolfo C. Farinas headed the KBL ticket for the elective positions in Laoag City (p 43, Rollo). On January 20, 1980, Laoag City was declared a free zone as far as the KBL was concerned.

In view of those two certificates of candidacy of Farinas, Antonio F. Lazo, the other KBL candidate for mayor, filed with the Comelec on January 20, 1980 a petition to disqualify Farinas. A copy of the petition was served upon Farinas. He answered it on January 25, 1980. His answer was not verified. The case was heard the next day, Saturday, at four o'clock in the afternoon. No oral evidence was received. The parties submitted as exhibits the annexes to their pleadings.

The Comelec in its brief Resolution No. 8547 in PDC No. 158 dated January 28, 1980 (two days before the election and the very day when Farinas submitted his verified answer to replace the unverified answer which he had previously filed) held that Farinas' candidacy should not be given due course because of turncoatism and "for engaging in partisan political activities before the campaign period" (See Presidential Decrees Nos. 1296 and 1661).

The next day, January 29, Farinas filed in this Court a petition for certiorari wherein he assailed that resolution. A restraining order was immediately issued to stop its enforcement. Hence, Farinas remained as a KBL candidate.

In spite of the disqualification resolution, which was made known to the voters, Farinas won the election by a margin of 6,419 votes over Lazo. Farinas was proclaimed on February 6 as the duly elected mayor after the Comelec had lifted its order suspending the proclamation (p. 69, Rollo).

Theorizing that the Comelec in allowing his proclamation, had tacitly acknowledged that he was qualified for the position of mayor, Farinas on February 13, 1980 filed a motion to withdraw his instant petition. He said that it had become moot and academic.

The Comelec, through the Solicitor General, manifested that this case was not rendered moot by the proclamation of Farinas (p. 178, Rollo). Respondent Lazo was also of the same opinion. But Farinas called the Court's attention to the fact that Lazo in his petition of February 5, 1980 to stop the proclamation of Farinas alleged that this case would be rendered moot by that proclamation.

We hold that this case should be returned to the Comelec with the directive that, in the light of supervening events, it should hold another hearing on Lazo's petition to disqualify Farinas.

The previous hearing before lawyer Horacio Apostol of the Comelec was summary in character and was not adequate to cover the factual issues involved in the case. The parties had no chance to file memoranda. Due to the numerous pending disqualification cases and the nearness of the election, the Comelec did not have ample time and opportunity to receive evidence in this case and to deliberate thereon. Its abbreviated resolution is an indication that the case had not been thoroughly threshed out.

There is some basis for Farinas' observation that the said resolution was a "midnight disqualification resolution" and that he was denied due process (See Potencion vs. Commission on Elections, G. R. No. 52527, September 4, 1980 and cases cited therein.)

WHEREFORE, the Comelec's resolution of January 28, 1980, disqualifying Farinas, is set aside. The Comelec is directed to set anew for hearing the disqualification petition of respondent Lazo, to receive the evidence of the parties and to render another decision. No costs.

SO ORDERED.

Teehankee, Barredo, Makasiar, Concepcion, Jr., Fernandez, Guerrero, De Castro, and Melencio-Herrera, JJ., concur.
Fernando, C.J., no part.
Abad Santos, J., reserves his vote.

END

EN BANC

[ G.R. No. 52431. July 30, 1981 ]

RODOLFO C. FARINAS, PETITIONER, VS. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS AND ANTONIO F. LAZO, RESPONDENTS. D E C I S I O N

RODOLFO C. FARINAS, PETITIONER, VS. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS AND ANTONIO F. LAZO, RESPONDENTS.

D E C I S I O N