BOXING promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud may need to change strategy in his bid to become a registered voter and pursue his mayoral ambition in Cordova town.
For the third time, the Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC) denied Salud’s petition to include him in the town’s list of registered voters as he again failed to convince the court that he has met the residency requirements for those aspiring for elective public positions.
Judge Jocelyn Uy-Po, presiding judge of the MCTC of Consolacion and Cordova, also admonished Salud and his counsel to stop filing a similar petition before her otherwise she will have to cite them in contempt.
“Maybe petitioner is trying to use this court as a tool wherein he can base his cause of action in another case or maybe he just filed case after case to fan that dying ember of hope that he could still run as a candidate in Cordova. An old adage has it that hope springs eternal but not in this case nor in this court,” Po said in her decision.
The judge said he will cite Salud and his counsel for direct contempt of court in case a similar case will be filed again in her court. She said Salud’s lawyer, “who is supposed to be an officer of the court and should have known better,” will be dealt with “more severely.”
Salud, who wants to challenge Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy in the May elections, is represented by three lawyers — Galileo Angeles, Magnificus Cañete, and Fillmore Gomos.
In an interview, Gomos said two separate petitions were filed before Judge Po.
He said Po denied the first petition which was filed by Cañete. He said they appealed the decision before the Regional Trial Court (RTC). However, Po’s ruling was affirmed by RTC Judge Raphael Yrastorza.
Gomos said Angeles, a Manila-based lawyer, filed another petition before Judge Po which was again denied last February.
Gomos declined to comment saying Angeles can best react to the court’s ruling since it was the latter who filed the last petition.
Cebu Daily News tried to contact Angeles but he did not answer calls to his phone.
In the petition, Angeles requested the court to direct the election board of Cordova to include Salud on the list of registered voters.
Angeles said that as early as June 2011, Salud already entered into a Contract of Lease for a house located at barangay Cogon, Cordova to pursue the boxing promoter’s intention to permanently reside in the municipality.
But their claim drew the ire of the judge who ruled that Salud failed to prove that he has been a resident of the municipality for six months. /Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol