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[G.R. No. 137429.December 7, 1999]

ATTY. JAIME R. FRESNEDI vs. MASANGKAY, et al .

EN BANC

Gentlemen :

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated DEC 7, 1999 .

G.R. No. 137429 (Atty. Jaime R. Fresnedi vs. Elizabeth Aguilar Masangkay and the Commission on Elections.)

Petitioner Jaime R. Fresnedi and private respondent Elizabeth Aguilar Masangkay were candidates for mayor of Muntinlupa City in the May 11, 1998 elections. Petitioner garnered a total of sixty-seven thousand two hundred sixty-eight (67,268) votes over private respondent's forty-three thousand seven hundred sixty (43,760) votes. Petitioner was proclaimed winner on May 17, 1998.

On May 27, 1998, private respondent filed an election protest with the COMELEC via registered mail.

In due time, petitioner filed his answer contending that the election protest was filed out of time, that is, beyond the reglementary ten-day period to file an election protest. He argued that the face of the petition bore the COMELEC stamp showing that the petition was filed on June 8, 1998.

On September 2, 1998, the Second Division of the COMELEC issued an order giving the petition due course after finding the same to have been timely filed on May 27, 1998 as evidenced by the post stamp on the mail envelope. The said division likewise directed the parties, inter alia, to deposit with its Cash Division the amount necessary to defray the cost of the revision of the ballots.

Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration but the same was denied by the COMELEC en banc on January 21, 1999.

Hence, the instant petition for certiorari assailing the said resolution virtually on the same grounds raised before the COMELEC Second Division and the COMELEC en banc. The only issue that merits our consideration is the timeliness of the filing of the election protest.

Section 1 of Rule 12 of the COMELEC Rules of Procedure explicitly provides.

Section 1. Filing with the Commission.-- The filing of Pleadings, appearances, motions, notices, and other papers with the Commission as required by these rules shall be made by filing them personally or through a duly authorized representative with the appropriate Clerk of Court of the Commission, or by registered mail except in a special action to declare a candidate as a nuisance candidate. If filed personally or by a duly authorized representative, the Clerk of Court shall stamp on the pleading the date and hour of filing. If filed by registered mail, the date of the mailing of motions, pleadings, or other papers or payments or deposits, as shown by the post office stamp on the envelope or the registry receipt, shall be considered as the date of their filing, payment or deposit with the Commission.The envelope shall be attached to the records of the case. (Underscoring ours.)

In the instant case, private respondent availed of the mode of filing by registered mail and filed her election protest on May 27, 1998, the date of mailing as shown by the post office stamp on the envelope. The date, June 8, 1998, stamped by COMELEC's personnel on the petition mailed to the COMELEC only indicates the date when such pleading was received by the Commission, not the date of filing of such pleading by private respondent on May 27, 1998. As is extant from the records, the election protest filed by private respondent was filed on time.

ACCORDINGLY, the instant petition is hereby DISMISSED.

Very truly yours,

LUZVIMINDA D. PUNO

Clerk of Court

(Sgd.) MA. LUISA D. VILLARAMA

Assistant Clerk of Court

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