Comelec told to rule on Mamba DQ case

Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba. CAGAYAN PROVINCIAL PIO FB PAGE

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ordered the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to rule on the disqualification case filed against incumbent Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba based on its merits and not on technicality.

The ruling issued on April 16 reversed the poll body’s decision to dismiss the petition of defeated gubernatorial candidate Zarah Rose Lara.

She had sought to disqualify Mamba as Cagayan gubernatorial candidate in the May 9, 2022, elections for alleged unlawful disbursement of public funds for vote-buying during the campaign.

“A petition for disqualification can be filed even after the exact time of the proclamation of a candidate, so long as it was filed within the same day,” the Supreme Court’s public information office said in a statement on Monday.

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The Comelec had ruled that Lara’s disqualification petition emailed on May 10, 2022, at 6:21 p.m. was considered to have been filed the next working day, or on May 11, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. which was after Mamba’s proclamation as winner.

But the Supreme Court said her petition was considered filed on time since Article 13 of the Civil Code “states that a day should be understood to mean 24 hours.”

“Since Mamba was proclaimed on May 11, 2022, at 1:39 a.m., petitions for disqualification against Mamba could still be filed anytime within that day,” the high court said. —DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN