Comelec ordered to proceed with Tiñga's poll protest vs Cayetano

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court has unanimously given the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the go-signal to proceed with the protest in last year’s election of Taguig Mayor Ma. Laarni Cayetano filed by retired Justice Dante Tiñga.

In an 11-page resolution promulgated on April 12 but released only yesterday, the High Court dismissed as premature the petition of Cayetano questioning the ruling by the second division of the poll body last year giving due course to Tiñga’s protest.

In a nutshell, the Court refused to touch on the case for lack of jurisdiction since the Comelec has yet to rule on it with finality and petitioner has not yet exhausted all available remedies provided in the poll body’s processes.

“The protest filed by private respondent (Tiñga) and the counter-protest filed by petitioner (Cayetano) remain pending before the Comelec, which should afford petitioner ample opportunity to ventilate her grievances. Thereafter, the Comelec should decide these cases with dispatch,” stated the SC ruling penned by Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura.

The Court reminded Cayetano of her remaining option to appeal before the poll body’s full commission the assailed decision of their second division, citing earlier its ruling on the case of Soriano Jr. vs. Comelec. It stressed that petitioner failed to prove that her case is an exemption to the general rule “that a decision, or an order of Comelec cannot be elevated directly to this Court through a special civil action for certiorari.”

“Plainly, from the foregoing, the Court has no jurisdiction to review an order, whether final or interlocutory, even a final resolution of a division of the Comelec. Stated otherwise, the Court can only review via certiorari a decision, order, or ruling of the Comelec in accordance with Section 7, Article IX-A of the Constitution,” it avers.

In the assailed ruling dated Aug. 23, 2010, the Comelec’s first division junked Cayetano’s affirmative defenses on the poll protest of Tiñga and ordered the retrieval of ballots that could be used for recount of votes. The mayor appealed the decision, but the Comelec junked her appeal in September last year, prompting her to elevate the case with the High Court.

Records show that Cayetano won after receiving a total of 95,865 votes as against 93,445 votes garnered by Tinga.