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12-Legaspi Vs Comelec

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc dismissed a disqualification case filed against a mayor, vice mayor, and councilor due to its failure to reach a majority decision after rehearing. The Supreme Court affirmed COMELEC's dismissal, finding that COMELEC's rules state cases must be dismissed if originally filed with COMELEC and it cannot reach a majority vote after rehearing. The Court also clarified that a motion for reconsideration does not change the original nature of the case filed.

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942 views

12-Legaspi Vs Comelec

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc dismissed a disqualification case filed against a mayor, vice mayor, and councilor due to its failure to reach a majority decision after rehearing. The Supreme Court affirmed COMELEC's dismissal, finding that COMELEC's rules state cases must be dismissed if originally filed with COMELEC and it cannot reach a majority vote after rehearing. The Court also clarified that a motion for reconsideration does not change the original nature of the case filed.

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Ten Laplana
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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12) FELICIANO P. LEGASPI, Petitioner, v.

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ALFREDO


GERMAR, AND ROGELIO P. SANTOS, JR., Respondents.
G.R. No. 216572, September 01, 2015
FACTS: Feliciano Legaspi sought for the disqualification of Alfredo Germar, Rogelio Santos Jr.
and Roberto Esquivel on the ground of rampant vote-buying during the days leading to the
elections. Germar emerged as the highest vote getter in the mayoralty race. Santos, for his part,
also appeared to have secured enough votes to be the second councilor of the municipality.
Esquivel, though, failed in his bid to become vice-mayor of Norzagaray.
The COMELECs Special First Division has disqualified Germar and Santos. Motions for
Reconsideration were filed which resulted in a split vote. A rehearing was conducted insofar as the
electoral aspect of the case but the COMELEC en banc again failed to come up with a majority
consensus. The COMELEC en banc dismissed the disqualification case based on Section 6, Rule
18 of the 1993 COMELEC Rules of Procedures, which states that When the Commission en
banc is equally divided in opinion, or the necessary majority cannot be had, the case shall be
reheard, and if on rehearing no decision is reached, the action or proceeding shall be dismissed if
originally commenced in the Commission.
Unconvinced, the petitioner filed the present petition before the Supreme Court.
ISSUE: Whether or not the COMELEC gravely erred in dismissing the disqualification case filed
against the respondents.
RULING: The COMELEC en banc did not err when it dismissed the electoral aspect of the case
when it was unable to reach a majority vote after the rehearing.
Section 7 of Article 1X-A of the Constitution obliges the COMELEC, like the other constitutional
commissions, to decide all cases or matters before it by a "majority vote of all its members." When
such majority vote cannot be mustered by the COMELEC en banc, Section 6, Rule 18 of the
COMELEC Rules provides the mechanism to avert a non-decision.
Verily, the COMELEC en banc is first required to rehear the case or matter that it cannot decide or
resolve by the necessary majority. When a majority still cannot be had after the rehearing,
however, there results a failure to decide on the part of the COMELEC en banc. The provision then
specifies the effects of the COMELEC en banc's, failure to decide:
1. If the action or proceeding is originally commenced in the COMELEC, such action or
proceeding shall be dismissed;
2. In appealed cases, the judgment or order appealed from shall stand affirmed; or
3. In incidental matters, the petition or motion shall be denied.
The high court ruled that the failure of COMELEC en banc to reach majority votes on the petition
properly results in its dismissal as it further clarified that a motion for reconsideration as a mere
continuation of an existing process and does not change the nature of the case filed.
The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the COMELEC dismissing the disqualification case
filed against a mayor, a vice mayoral aspirant and a councilor in Norzagaray, Bulacan. The high
court through Associate Justice Jose Perez dismissed the petition for certiorari filed by defeated
mayoral candidate Feliciano Legaspi against Alfredo German, Rogelio Santos Jr. and Roberto
Esquivel.

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