SC junks appeal of unseated Kauswagan mayor

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the appeal filed by unseated Kauswagan mayor Rommel Arnado.

“The respondent failed to present new argument to justify a reversal of the April 16 decision,” high court’s Information Chief Theodore Te said Tuesday.

On April 16, the high court unseated Arnado as mayor in Kauswagan, Lanao Del Norte. Voting 10-5, the high court upheld a Commission on Elections decision that disqualified Arnado.

He was disqualified for using a foreign passport. The high court, through Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, said using a foreign passport is “a positive and voluntary act of representation as to one’s nationality and citizenship.”

A foreign passport may not remove a reacquired Filipino citizenship but it recants an oath of renunciation which is required to qualify for an elective position, the SC said.

Arnado has been allowed to run in the 2013 elections and was proclaimed winner.