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ManilaEN
BANC
RODOLFO
C. FARIÑAS,
Petitioner,
G. R. No. L-52431
July 30, 1981
-versus-
COMMISSION
ON ELECTIONS
and ANTONIO F. LAZO,
Respondents.
R
E S O L U T I O N
AQUINO, J.:
Rodolfo
Fariñas, 28, filed on January
4, 1980 with the Election Registrar of Laoag City his certificate of
candidacy
as the standard bearer of the Nacionalista Party for the position of
mayor
of that city in the election held on January 30, 1980.
At four-thirty in
the afternoon of that same day,
he filed with the Commission on Elections in Manila another certificate
of candidacy wherein he indicated that he was nominated by the Kilusang
Bagong Lipunan as its official candidate for mayor of Laoag City.cralaw:red
At the same time,
he wrote to the Election Registrar
at Laoag City a letter withdrawing his certificate of candidacy under
the
banner of the Nacionalista Party. Fariñas said that his
first
certificate of candidacy was a mistake since he was actually running as
a KBL candidate [p. 44, Rollo].cralaw:red
On January 8,
1980, Ernesto T. Fariñas
wrote a letter informing the Provincial Election Registrar at Laoag
City
that Rodolfo C. Farinas headed the KBL ticket for the elective
positions
in Laoag City [p. 43, Rollo]. On January 20, 1980, Laoag City was
declared a free zone as far as the KBL was concerned.cralaw:red
In view of those
two certificates of candidacy
of Fariñas, Antonio F. Lazo, the other KBL candidate for mayor,
filed with the Comelec on January 20, 1980 a petition to disqualify
Fariñas.
A copy of the petition was served upon Fariñas. He
answered
it on January 25, 1980. His answer was not verified. The
case
was heard the next day, Saturday, at four o'clock in the
afternoon.
No oral evidence was received. The parties submitted as exhibits
the annexes to their pleadings.cralaw:red
The Comelec in
its brief Resolution No. 8547 in
PDC No. 158 dated January 28, 1980 [two days before the election and
the
very day when Fariñas submitted his verified answer to replace
the
unverified answer which he had previously filed], held that Farinas'
candidacy
should not be given due course because of turncoatism and "for engaging
in partisan political activities before the campaign period" [See
Presidential
Decrees Nos. 1296 and 1661].cralaw:red
The next day,
January 29, Fariñas filed
in this Court a Petition for Certiorari wherein he assailed that
resolution.
A restraining order was immediately issued to stop its enforcement.
Hence,
Fariñas remained as a KBL candidate.cralaw:red
In spite of the
disqualification resolution, which
was made known to the voters, Farinas won the election by a margin of
6,419
votes over Lazo. Fariñas was proclaimed on February 6 as
the
duly elected mayor after the Comelec had lifted its order suspending
the
proclamation [p. 69, Rollo]. Theorizing that the Comelec, in
allowing
his proclamation, had tacitly acknowledged that he was qualified for
the
position of mayor, Fariñas on February 13, 1980 filed a motion
to
withdraw his instant petition. He said that it had become moot
and
academic.cralaw:red
The Comelec,
through the Solicitor General, manifested
that this case was not rendered moot by the proclamation of
Fariñas
[p. 178, Rollo]. Respondent Lazo was also of the same
opinion.
But Farinas called the Court's attention to the fact that Lazo, in his
petition of February 5, 1980 to stop the proclamation of
Fariñas,
alleged that this case would be rendered moot by that proclamation.cralaw:red
We hold that this
case should be returned to the
Comelec with the directive that, in the light of supervening events, it
should hold another hearing on Lazo's petition to disqualify
Fariñas.cralaw:red
The previous
hearing before lawyer Horacio Apostol
of the Comelec was summary in character and was not adequate to cover
the
factual issues involved in the case. The parties had no chance to
file memoranda. Due to the numerous pending disqualification
cases
and the nearness of the election, the Comelec did not have ample time
and
opportunity to receive evidence in this case and to deliberate
thereon.
Its abbreviated resolution is an indication that the case had not been
thoroughly threshed out.cralaw:red
There is some
basis for Fariñas' observation
that the said resolution was a "midnight disqualification resolution"
and
that he was denied due process. [See Potencion vs. Commission on
Elections, G. R. No. 52527, September 4, 1980 and cases cited therein]
WHEREFORE, the
Comelec's Resolution of January
28, 1980, disqualifying Fariñas, is set aside. The Comelec
is directed to set anew for hearing the disqualification petition
of
respondent Lazo, to receive the evidence of the parties and to render
another
decision. No costs.cralaw:red
SO ORDERED.cralaw:red
Teehankee,
Barredo, Makasiar, Concepcion, Jr.,
Fernandez, Guerrero, De Castro, and Melencio-Herrera, JJ.,
concur.
Fernando, C.J., took no part.
Abad Santos, J., reserves his vote. |
