Tanauan City has new mayor

Due to mere technicalities, Tanauan City in Batangas has gained a new mayor.

Sonia Torres-Aquino took over as Tanauan mayor after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed to overturn a previous decision due to the differing opinions of its commissioners.

Lawyer George Erwin Garcia, Aquino’s legal counsel, said the six-member Comelec en banc failed to muster the mandatory majority of four votes to stop Aquino from assuming the position.

Garcia said the Comelec’s second division declared Aquino the duly elected mayor of Tanauan late last year, prompting then incumbent mayor Alfredo Corona to file a motion for reconsideration.

In a petition he filed yesterday, Corona asked the Comelec en banc to nullify the second division’s ruling and to restrain it from executing its writ of executive until after a thorough investigation into the electoral case.

The voting on the motion for reconsideration, however, was divided.

Under Comelec procedures, Garcia said a judgment is affirmed if the commission en banc is equally divided or the majority cannot be had.

"As a result of the voting, Corona was ejected and Aquino was able to assume the post," he said.

In her electoral protest, Aquino accused Corona of fraud in the May 2004 polls.