Jonas Cortes (Photo from Facebook)
CEBU CITY — A Cebu-based lawyer has filed a petition to disqualify dismissed Mayor Jonas Cortes of Mandaue City, Cebu from running in the 2025 midterm elections.
Lawyer Ervin Estandarte asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to cancel Cortes’ certificate of candidacy (COC) due to “material representation,” which violates Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code and Section 40 (b) of the Local Government Code.
Estandarte filed the petition on Oct. 25, but the poll body received it only on Oct. 28.
This is the third disqualification case filed against Cortes.
The Inquirer tried to get Cortes’ reaction regarding the petition filed by Estandarte but he had not responded yet.
In his petition, Estandarte said a section of Cortes’ COC included a question about any pending or previous cases, requiring details such as the case docket, title, date filed, and status.
Estandarte said Cortes committed a violation when he responded with a “not applicable (N/A)”remark in the dorsal portion of his COC.
“Such material representation is knowingly made because on October 3, 2024, a day prior to the filing of the respondent’s COC, he (Cortes) received an amended order from the Ombudsman dismissing him from service as mayor of Mandaue City, Cebu,” he said.
“Thus, he should have indicated in his COC the fact of his dismissal from service. Clearly, therefore, by indicating N/A, it is a material representation necessitating the denial of due course or cancellation of his COC,” Estandarte added.
READ: Cortes faces new petition for disqualification from 2025 elections
The lawyer said Cortes misled the Comelec into believing that he had all the qualifications to run again as mayor of Mandaue City.
Estandarte said a prior Supreme Court (SC) decision stating that the denial of due course or cancellation of a COC is not based on the lack of qualifications but on the candidate making a false material representation.
The Office of the Ombudsman earlier ordered the dismissal of Cortes from the service after finding him guilty of grave misconduct for allowing a cement batching plant to operate without business and environmental permits.
But Cortes went to the Supreme Court and challenged Comelec Resolution No. 11044-A that mandated the cancellation of all COCs of aspirants who have been slapped with a penalty of disqualification by the Ombudsman.
The high court, on Oct. 22, issued a temporary restraining order, stopping the Comelec from disqualifying Cortes pending review of the case against him.
In an earlier statement, Cortes welcomed the high court’s intervention and hoped that the cases against him will be junked.
READ: Mandaue: Petition to junk Mayor Cortes’ candidacy filed at Comelec