Comelec ends Tarlac mayoral row

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has dismissed an election complaint against Mayor Miguel Rivilla of Paniqui town, Tarlac province, in effect resolving the mayoral dispute there in the mayor’s favor.

But despite the Nov. 12 Comelec resolution, Rivilla said former Tarlac Board Member Rommel David continued to act as mayor and remained holed up at the third floor of the town hall.

David, a candidate of Nationalist People’s Coalition, had challenged Rivilla’s 2013 victory in court but his complaint and motion for reconsideration were dismissed by Judge Serafin Cruz of the Paniqui Regional Trial Court (RTC).

However, Judge Agapito Laoagan Jr., assisting judge of RTC Branch 67, acted in favor of David’s second motion for reconsideration by invalidating 3,684 of the votes Rivilla received.

Rivilla won a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Comelec when he questioned Laoagan’s ruling but it lapsed on Oct. 27, allowing David to assume office.

Last week, the Comelec’s First Division, presided by Commissioner Lucenito Tagle and joined by Commissioners Christian Robert Lim and Al Parreño, nullified Laoagan’s ruling, saying Cruz’s June 6, 2013, order became final and executory.

David did not take the Inquirer’s calls or respond to text messages sent to his phone on Monday.

The Comelec’s Nov. 12 resolution said David erred when he filed a motion on July 8, 2013, instead of filing an appeal five days after receiving Cruz’s order.

In spite of the Comelec First Division’s TRO issued on July 25, Laoagan had ordered a recount that led to the proclamation of David as mayor of Paniqui, with 19,617 votes against Rivilla’s 19,010. The Comelec said, “It is a fundamental rule that when a final judgment becomes executory, it thereby becomes immutable and unalterable.”

“While it is true that procedural rules may be relaxed in the interest of substantial justice, they are now, however, to be disdained as mere technicalities that may be ignored at will to suit the convenience of a party. They are intended to ensure the orderly administration of justice and the protection of substantive rights in judicial proceedings,” according to the resolution. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon