Comelec OKs Hagedorn bid in Puerto Princesa recall polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has upheld the candidacy of former Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn in the city’s recall elections on Tuesday, dismissing the petition of his political opponents to disqualify him from the mayoral contest.

In an 18-page resolution issued on Friday, the Comelec’s First Division ruled that Hagedorn was qualified to run for mayor of the city, saying that the constitutional ban against a fourth consecutive term did not apply to him because he did not run for the post in the last election.

The resolution was penned by First Division presiding Commissioner Mehol Sadain and concurred with by Commissioners Luzviminda Tancangco and Resurreccion Borra.

The decision paves the way for a three-way contest for the mayoralty among Hagedorn, incumbent Mayor Victorino Dennis Socrates and Sandy Sandoval in the recall elections on Tuesday.

Socrates who beat Sandoval in the 2001 election, was recalled by the preparatory recall assembly and had to submit himself to a recall election originally scheduled for Sept. 7. The Supreme Court later reset the election for Sept. 24 to give the candidates time to campaign.

The petitioners cited the same grounds for seeking Hagedorn’s disqualification – that he had served three consecutive terms as mayor and that he was seeking a fourth consecutive term.

However, Hagedorn contended that he was not seeking a fourth consecutive term because his service was interrupted after the third term when he did not run for mayor in 2001. Instead, he ran for governor and lost.

The Comelec dismissed the petitions for lack of merit.

What is intended to be prohibited by the Constitution is the immediate election of a third termer, the resolution said. On this basis, it said, Hagedorn is declared qualified to run for mayor.