Leyte solon sued for allegedly falsifying COC

The Office of the Ombudsman. (File photo by NINO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines – Leyte 2nd District Rep. Lolita Javier has been sued by her opponent in the last elections for allegedly “making untruthful statements” in her certificate of candidacy (COC).

According to former Leyte Rep. Henry Ong, whose legal team filed a falsification of public document complaint against Javier before the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday, the lawmaker’s voter registration was not yet approved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) when she filed her COC on October 17, 2018.

“[…] When Javier filed her COC on October 17, 2018, as a private individual, she claimed she already was a registered voter, however, the Comelec election registration board had not yet approved her voter registration application because the ERB approval came on October 25,” Ong’s camp said in a statement.

He also cited differences in the residency of Javier, as her COC supposedly shows that she has been a resident of Jaro for 44 years and two months, while her voter’s registration places residency at 43 years.

“Ong also noted that Javier’s voter registration was as a first time voter in a town where she had been a resident for over 40 years and that Javier’s husband, Leonardo Javier, was then mayor of the Municipality of Javier in the first district of Leyte,” the former lawmaker’s side claimed.

“It is quite perplexing as to how a publicly recognized married couple such as Lolita and Leonardo were allowed to assume their previous and current official positions despite the stark difference in their places of residence,” the complaint said.

Javier, who ran under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, edged PDP-Laban’s Ong by more than 27,000 votes during the last 2019 midterm elections.

Ong’s legal team, led by lawyer Lorna Kapunan, also asserted that the Ombudsman has jurisdiction over Javier’s case even if the crime supposedly committed occurred prior to his congressional term.

“As to the issue on jurisdiction, the rules explicitly provide that the Ombudsman has the power to ‘investigate and prosecute on its own or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public officer or employee,’” Ong’s legal teamn noted.

“While the act was committed when Lolita was still a private individual, considering that she is now a public officer, the Ombudsman may likewise take cognizance of the same,” they added. (Editor: Jonathan P. Vicente)