Comelec: Andales disqualified from running in May polls

CEBU, Philippines — The Commission on Elections En Banc has affirmed the ruling of its Second Division cancelling the candidacy of Councilor Sisinio Andales.

In a five-page resolution, Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas and its commissioners denied Andales’ motion for reconsideration.

“The Commission (En Banc) finds no cogent reason to depart from or reverse the ruling of the Commission (Second Division,” the resolution reads.

The resolution was also signed by commissioners Rowena Amelia Guanzon, Socorro Inting, Marlon Casquejo, Antonio Kho Jr., and Luie Tito Guia.

Comelec North District Election Officer Marchel Sarno said he received a copy of the resolution yesterday afternoon and has served the same to Andales’ office.

He said Andales should secure a Temporary Restraining Order within five days otherwise the Comelec resolution will be final and executory.

“Magpaabot og five days, which is mag-start ugma, Saturday. If wala pay ma-secure nga TRO before five days, ma-final and executory ang decision (We will wait for five days, which will start tomorrow, Saturday. If no TRO is issued in five days, the decision will become final and executory),” Sarno said.

Andales said he will fight the decision up to the Supreme Court.

“Alkanse kaayo mi kay Friday gyud ihatag unya apil sa pag-count ang Saturday and Sunday sa pag-file namo og petition. I just hope nga ma-convene ang SC para maka-issue og TRO (It’s unfair to us that the resolution was issued on a Friday because the five-day period to file a petition includes the weekend. I just hope the SC can convene so that a TRO can be issued),” he told The FREEMAN yesterday.

It was a certain Allen Canoy, a resident of Barangay Apas in Cebu City who asked that Andales and fellow councilor Alvin Arcilla be disqualified from last May’s polls.

Canoy said the two have been elected for the same position for three consecutive terms in 2010, 2013, and 2016.

The Comelec en banc also ruled that Arcilla has exhausted his three consecutive terms as councilor.

Arcilla and Andales contended that their terms were interrupted when the Office of the President suspended them from May 17, 2016 to June 30, 2016, but Comelec said a suspension from office of a local elected official means that he is temporarily incapacitated to render service that his elected office demands.

“Surely, the Constitution could not have intended to reward those suspended with the opportunity to skip the three-year bar,” the resolution reads.

Arcilla ranked sixth while Andales ranked seventh in the last elections.

Sarno said the candidates who ranked ninth and tenth in the last elections, in the persons of Councilors Jerry Guardo and Joel Garganera, will replace Arcilla and Andales.

Guardo is expected to be proclaimed next week while Garganera has yet to wait for the finality of the order against Andales and the motion for execution of the disqualification. 

City council

Guardo and re-elected Councilor David Tumulak already expressed support for the administration of mayor-elect Edgardo Labella, which may mean they join Labella’s group, Partido Barug-PDP Laban.

If Guardo and Garganera will indeed join Partido Barug-PDP Laban, the group will gain the majority in the Council with 10 councilors. Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan will have eight councilors.

Partido Barug will have Garganera, Prisca Niña Mabatid, Raymond Alvin Garcia, Donaldo Hontiveros, Eduardo Rama, Antonio Cuenco, Renato Osmeña Jr., Phillip Zafra, and, if ever, Guardo and David Tumulak.

BOPK will have Nestor Archival, Joy Augustus Young, Lea Japson, Alvin Dizon, Eugenio Gabuya, Jr., Yayoy Alcoseba, Association of Barangay Councils President Franklyn Ong, and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President Jessica Resch. - /JMO (FREEMAN)