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Elected
lady officials retain their posts
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from
NAMFREL Election Monitor Vol.2, No.15
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After the Commission on Elections
(Comelec) served a Notice of Vacancy at the Lucena City hall, the
Supreme Court (SC) issued a status quo ante order stopping Comelec
to remove elected Barbara “Ruby” Talaga from the mayoral post. The
Comelec on June 28 then recalled its earlier resolution ordering
Talaga to vacate the post.
Last week, Comelec proclaimed and swore in Roderick Alcala as the
new mayor following the poll body’s decision removing Talaga from
office. Talaga’s camp however held on and elevated the case to the
SC. After the SC received comments from the Comelec on
Talaga’s petition, the high court issued its order in favor of the
petitioner. Talaga’s husband, former mayor Ramon Talaga, Jr. said
that they received a phone call from the SC informing them of the
order.
The protest filed by Roderick Alcala alleged that Barbara Talaga’s
candidacy was invalid. Talaga substituted for her husband who was
disqualified by Comelec to run for the May 2010 elections. Since
Ramon Talaga, Jr. was disqualified, his candidacy became unofficial,
hence Barbara’s candidacy was deemed illegitimate since she
substituted for an unofficial candidate.
Alcala expressed that he will honor the SC’s order and will reassume
his post as vice-mayor; however, his counsel said that despite the
high court’s order, the Comelec’s ruling on Talaga’s ouster is still
in effect until the SC issue a ruling establishing otherwise.
Meanwhile, Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez remains the representative of the
4th district of Leyte albeit a protest filed
by losing candidate Eufrocino Codilla Jr. before the House of
Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) for a recount.
Torres-Gomez’s counsel said that after filing the protest, Codilla
no longer appeared in the hearings called by the HRET.
Codilla filed a protest against Torres-Gomez on the ground that the
latter’s candidacy was invalid. In the 2010 elections, actor Richard
Gomez filed his candidacy but was disqualified by the Comelec. His
wife, Lucy, subsequently substituted for him. Since Gomez’s
candidacy did not become official, Lucy’s candidacy was deemed
unofficial since there was no official candidate to substitute for.
This was Codilla’s argument in the protest that he filed.
Another losing candidate in Leyte, Silverio Tagolino, filed a quo
warranto before the HRET that questioned Torres-Gomez's
qualifications to sit as the representative of the district. After
the protest was filed, Tagolino did not appear in any hearings set
by the HRET. It was reported that Tagolino and Codilla have the same
counsels. Torres-Gomez’s lawyers suspect that these protests filed
against her were just nuisance suits.
(Various news sources) |
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