SC upholds Roman win as Bataan governor

The Supreme Court recently upheld the election last year of Leonardo Roman as governor of Bataan. The high tribunal voting 8-7, ruled that victory in a recall election does not count as a full term, thus Roman was validly elected in the 2001 gubernatorial elections where he received 97 percent of the votes cast.

The decision of the SC was a hard-fought and well-deserved victory for Roman, one of this year’s Most Outstanding Governors and recipient of Galing Pook Award of Excellence from Malacañang.

Prior to this long-awaited ruling, there was much speculation about this landmark case on whether a recall election is to be considered a term for purposes of counting the three-term limit of locally elected officials.

Petitions for his disqualification flooded the Comelec dockets prior to the 2001 local elections, all anchored on the ground that he is barred from running for the same post as he allegedly, had already served three consecutive terms as governor.

Roman was elected governor of Bataan in the 1988 regular elections, 1993 recall elections, 1995 regular elections, 1998 regular elections and 2001 regular elections.

The Comelec en banc, in a decision penned by Commissioner Florentino Tuason Jr., ruled that Roman did not violate the three-term limit for elective officials when he ran for the same post during the 2001 elections.

This is the same ruling that was upheld by the Supreme Court in its Dec. 17, 2002 decision.

A recall election, on the other hand, is not considered a regular election, for purposes of counting the three-term limit of candidates, and is considered an interruption in the service of the full term.

A voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered an interruption of the period for which the said official was elected.

For the disqualification to apply, a candidate for the same elective post must have served the full three terms consecutively.