Raps vs proclamation of Bataan’s Roman disputed

The office of re-elected Bataan Gov. Leonardo "Ding" Roman, who garnered 93 percent of total votes in the province, dismissed yesterday as "erroneous, having no basis both in law and in fact" the contention that he should be disqualified from holding the same position.

Some quarters have argued that Roman, which has been proclaimed governor-elect, should be disqualified, having been elected as Bataan’s chief executive in the 1992, 1995 and 1998 elections.

Roman’s office said that while Section 43 of the Local Government Code, pursuant to the provisions of Section 8, Article X of the fundamental law, bars any elective local official, except barangay officials, from holding the same elective post for more than three consecutive terms or a maximum of nine consecutive years, "an interruption in the term of an elective local official will stop the running of the period for purposes of counting the three-term limit."

Roman was elected and served as Bataan governor from 1988 to 1992. During the 1992 elections, he ran for the same position but lost to Enrique Garcia.

However, Roman’s office said recall elections for the governorship were held in 1993 and Roman won.

Roman again ran in the 1995, 1998 and the recent May 14 elections, and won.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), Roman’s office said, has consistently ruled that "recall elections are not regular elections and the same constitutes a sufficient interruption in the term of an elective local official relative to the three-term limit."

Such was the ruling, Roman’s office noted, in the Onofre Cruz v. Roman, Bautista and Magdalera v. Roman and Ramos v. Roman cases.

All three cases involved the question of whether Roman was qualified to run for Bataan governor. The Comelec denied the petitions for disqualification, declaring that the 1993 recall elections — wherein Roman served the unexpired portion of the term of then Gov. Garcia — cannot be counted as a full term.

Roman’s office said a "hiatus" existed in Roman’s term as governor between 1992 and 1994 when he took his oath of office again following the recall elections in 1993.