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[G.R. No. 148454.July 4, 2001]

ZENAIDA SALAZAR vs. MANCIANO

EN BANC

Gentlemen:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated JUL 4 2001.

G.R. No. 148454(Zenaida Salazar vs. Commission on Elections, Municipal Board of Canvassers of Madridejos, Cebu, and Lety Mancio.)

Petitioner Zenaida Salazar and private respondent Lety Mancio were candidates for the mayoralty of Madridejos, Cebu, during the May 14, 2001 elections.

The Municipal Board of Canvassers (MBC) composed of Virginia A. Fernandez, Esperato del Socorro and Wilfreda Sasuman suspended the proceedings on May 15, 2001 because a commotion ensued in the canvassing room wherein (a) a watcher was allegedly mauled by the supporters of Lety Mancio and (b) guns were allegedly cocked inside the room causing a tumultuous affray.Thereafter, all the members of the MBC resigned.

On May 17, 2001, the Provincial Election Supervisor for Cebu constituted a new board composed of Ferdinand Hortelano, Hamlet Adelmita and Antonio Tojong.Hamlet Adelmita was later replaced by Bernardo Balatayo, Jr.

Accordingly, the canvassing resumed.Petitioner raised objections to several rulings of the new MBC and for every adverse ruling issued therein, she verbally manifested her intention to appeal the same.Thus, when private respondent filed a motion to proclaim the winning candidates for the local posts in Madridejos, the same was denied by the new MBC in view of petitoner's manifest intention to appeal the board's rulings.

On May 25, 2001, private respondent filed a petition for authority to proclaim her winner in the last elections with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).The same was docketed as SPC No. 01-166.

On June 21, 2001, the First Division of the COMELEC issued a resolution granting the petition and directing the new MBC to reconvene and resume canvassing and thereafter, proclaim the winning local candidates in Madridejos, Cebu.

Petitioner did not file a motion for reconsideration to the Commission en banc. Instead, she filed the instant petition for certiorari and prohibition on June 29, 2001.

The petition must be dismissed.

A decision, resolution or order of a division of the COMELEC must be reviewed by the COMELEC en banc via a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court may take cognizance of it.An administrative or quasi-judicial agency, like the COMELEC, which may render a decision, resolution or order on a matter before it must be given an opportunity to rectify its error through a motion for reconsideration filed by the aggrieved party.Only after such an administrative remedy has been exhausted may judicial recourse be allowed.

In Ambil, Jr. v. COMELEC (First Division, G.R. No. 143398, October 25, 2000), we held that:

To begin with, the power of the Supreme Court to review decisions of the Comelec is prescribed in the Constitution, as follows:

"Section 7.Each commission shall decide by a majority vote of all its members any case or matter brought before it within sixty days from the date of its submission for decision or resolution.A case or matter is deemed submitted for decision or resolution upon the filing of the last pleading, brief, or memorandum required by the rules of the commission or by the commission itself.Unless otherwise provided by this constitution or by law, any decision, order, or ruling of each commission may be brought to the Supreme court on certiorari by the aggrieved party within thirty days from receipt of a copy thereof."

We have interpreted this provision to mean final orders, ruling and decisions of the COMELEC rendered in the exercise of its adjudicatory or quasi-judicial powers.This decision must be a final decision or resolution of the Comelec en banc, not of a division, certainly not an interlocutory order of a division.The Supreme Court had no power to review via certiorari, an interlocutory order or even a final resolution of a Division of the Commission on Elections.

The mode by which a decision, order or ruling of the Comelec en banc may be elevated to the Supreme Court is by the special civil action of certiorari under Rule 65 of the 1964 Revised Rules of Court, now expressly provided in Rule 64, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended.

Rule 65, Section 1, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended requires that there be no appeal, or any plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law.A motion for reconsideration is a plain and adequate remedy provided by law.Failure to abide by this procedural requirement constitutes a ground for dismissal of the petition.

In like manner, a decision, order or resolution of a division of the Comelec must be reviewed by the Comelec en banc via a motion for reconsideration before the final en banc decision may be brought to the Supreme Court on certiorari.The pre-requisite filing of a motion for reconsideration is mandatory.Article IX-C, Section 3, 1987 Constitution provides as follows:

"Section 3.The Commission on Elections may sit en banc or in two divisions, and shall promulgate its rules of procedure in order to expedite disposition of election cases, including pre-proclamation controversies.All such election cases shall be heard and decided in division, provided that motions for reconsideration of decision shall be decided by the Commission en banc."

Similarly, the Rules of Procedure of the Comelec provide that a decision of a division may be raised to the en banc via a motion for reconsideration.

Accordingly, the petition is hereby DISMISSED.Panganiban, Quisumbing and Santiago, JJ., abroad on official business.Reyes, J., is on leave.

Very truly yours,

LUZVIMINDA D. PUNO
Clerk of Court

(Sgd.) MA. LUISA D. VILLARAMA

Asst. Clerk of Court


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