Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions > Year 2007 > May 2007 Resolutions > [G.R. No. 174551 : May 03, 2007] MAYOR SALIP ALOY JAINAL VS. COMELEC, JULHATAB TALIB AND HUSSIN AHAJAN :

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated 3 MAY 2007

G.R. No. 174551 (Mayor Salip Aloy Jainal v. COMELEC, Julhatab Talib and Hussin Ahajan)

Before this Court is a Most Urgent Petition/Motion (for Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order) dated 24 April 2007 filed by respondent Hussin Ahajan (Ahajan), Acting Mayor of Indanan, Sulu, praying for an order commanding the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to cease and desist from proceeding with the recount of the ballots of the eight (8) subject precincts, and also from taking any further action in connection with its implementation of its 22 March 2005 and 18 September 2006 resolutions until further orders from this Court.

On 7 March 2007, this Court rendered a decision in G.R. No. 174551,^[1] the dispositive portion of which pertinently reads:

WHEREFORE, premises considered, judgment is hereby rendered as follows:

x x x x

2) The Commission on Elections (2nd Division) Resolution dated 22 March 2005, as modified by the Commission on Election (en banc) Resolution of 18 September 2006 in SPC No. 04-169 is AFFIRMED;

3) The Commission on Elections is ORDERED to IMPLEMENT its RESOLUTION of 22 March 2005 as modified by its Resolution of 18 September 2006, and thereupon to REPORT on such implementation to this Court, with deliberate dispatch;

x x x x

In view of the proximity of the next elections, this Decision is declared FINAL and IMMEDIATELY EXECUTORY.

SO ORDERED.

The 22 March 2005 Resolution of the COMELEC (2nd Division) reads:

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant petition is granted in part. The election returns from the following precincts are hereby annulled:

1. Precinct 33A (Barangay Kagay)
   
2. Precinct 34A (Barangay Kagay)
   
3. Precinct 17A (Barangay Buansa)
   
4. Precinct 18A (Barangay Buansa)
   
5. Precinct 19A (Barangay Buansa)
   
6. Precinct 20A (Barangay Buansa)
   
7. Precinct 21A (Barangay Buansa)
   
8. Precinct 22A (Barangay Buansa)
   
9. Precinct 9A/9B (Barangay Adjid)
   

The proclamation of respondent Salip Aloy Jainal is likewise annulled. The vacancy in the position of Indanan Mayor will be filled up pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Local Government Code.

The Election Officer of Indanan is ordered to convene the Board of Election Inspectors in the abovementioned precincts, after notifying the parties concerned and after ensuring that the integrity of the ballot boxes and the ballots are not compromised, in order to recount the ballots cast in the abovementioned precincts. After the recount, the new results will be canvassed and the mayoralty winner proclaimed. If a recount is deemed not possible, he is to make a report to the Commission so that a special election may be immediately scheduled in the affected precincts.

Let a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court of Jolo, Sulu hearing Election Protest Case No. 5-4-04.^[2]

SO ORDERED.

The 18 September 2006 Resolution of the COMELEC en banc modified the above resolution by declaring the election returns pertaining to Precinct 9A/9B of Barangay Adjid as valid.According to Ahajan, the COMELEC has proceeded to improperly carry out the implementation of the above resolutions when it issued Minute Resolution No. 07-0752. In the said Resolution, the poll body resolved: (1) to transfer the venue for the recounting of votes, municipal canvassing and proclamation to the COMELEC Central Office in Manila; (2) to constitute the new members of the Board of Election Inspectors and Municipal Board of Canvassers for the said purpose composed of lawyers at the COMELEC Central Office in Manila; and (3) to direct the Provincial Election Supervisor of Sulu to bring the ballot boxes concerned subject of recounting to the COMELEC Central Office in Manila accompanied by both parties at their own expense.^[3]According to Ahajan, COMELEC will simply proceed with the recount without first ascertaining the integrity of the ballot boxes.

In this regard, we note the Ruling of Election Officer Malik G. Asjali dated 4 April 2007 to postpone the opening and the recount of the ballot boxes and the ballots. He gave two reasons for this ruling, to wit:

1. For every ballot boxes [sic] has only one padlock.
   


2. I can't assure the validity and the integrity of the ballot boxes because [sic] was already opened, and it [sic] manifested by Atty. Kulayan that the ballot boxes already opened.

Given the above findings of its own election officer, the COMELEC acted with apparent haste in immediately ordering the transfer of the venue of the recount, canvassing and proclamation to its Central Office in Manila. It should have first determined for itself the veracity of the above findings, and from there, make its own conclusions on the integrity of the ballot boxes concerned. Only after coming up with these conclusions can COMELEC decide on whether a recount is still possible, and, if it is still possible, whether the same is to be done in Indanan, Sulu, or in Manila.

IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, this Court hereby resolves to:

(1) Require the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to EXPLAIN, within five (5) days from notice, why they disregarded the findings of the Election Officer of Indanan, Sulu, on the integrity of the ballot boxes involved; and

(2) Hold in abeyance the implementation of Minute Resolution No. 07-0752 until further orders from this Court.

In view of the above action, the Court further Resolved to NOTE WITHOUT ACTION the Reiterating Petition/Motion for Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order dated April 26, 2007 filed by counsel for respondent Hussin I. Ahajan.

The Court likewise Resolved to NOTE WITHOUT ACTION the Memorandum dated March 21, 2007 filed by Consuelo B. Diola, Assistant to the Clerk of the Commission, Commission on Elections, requesting for the original folder of this case, considering that the said folder had been forwarded to the COMELEC per letter dated March 26, 2007 of Atty. Ma. Lourdes C. Perfecto, SC Assistant Chief of Office, Judicial Records Office, Supreme Court.

Austria-Martinez and Corona, JJ., on leave.

Endnotes:

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^[1] Entitled Mayor Salip Aloy Jainal, petitioner, versus Commission on Elections, Julhatab J. Talib, and Hussin Ahajan, respondents.

^[2] This is an election protest case filed by Khan lsnaji (Isnaji), the third candidate for Mayor, against petitioner and Talib before the Regional Trial Court, Branch 4, Parang, Sulu.

^[3] See COMELEC Minute Resolution No. 07-0752 dated 12 April 2007.