Supreme Court unseats Cebu lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the election protest of Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, who lost in the congressional race in the fourth district of Cebu in the May 2007 polls.

In a 23-page decision penned by Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr., the SC declared Martinez the winning candidate and not Rep. Benhur Salimbangon, who was proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The SC reversed last year’s ruling of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) that junked Martinez’s election protest.

The SC ruled that Martinez defeated Salimbangon by almost 5,000 votes. It stressed that its decision should be “immediately executory.”

With the ruling, Martinez has only five months or until June 30 to serve his term.

The HRET and Comelec, according to the SC, both erred in discounting the 5,401 votes cast for “Martinez” and “C. Martinez” in favor of the petitioner during the canvassing of votes following the disqualification of motorcycle-for-hire driver Edilito Martinez as a nuisance candidate.

The SC said the HRET committed “grave abuse of discretion” and chided the Comelec for its “inefficiency and lethargy.”

In the Comelec tally, Martinez lost to Salimbangon by 104 votes. The HRET later ruled that Salimbangon’s winning margin was 453 votes.

But with the SC ruling that counted over 5,000 votes earlier declared stray, Martinez got 72,056 votes against Salimbangon’s 67,108.

The latest SC ruling can affect future election controversies, as it states that “ballots indicating only the similar surname of two candidates for the same position may, in appropriate cases, be counted in favor of the bona fide candidate and not considered stray even if the other candidate was declared a nuisance candidate by final judgment after the elections.”

In favoring Martinez, the SC cited the poll body’s failure to resolve the motion against Edilito C. Martinez on time. The latter was declared a nuisance candidate only after Salimbangon was already proclaimed winner.

As far as the HRET is concerned, the SC said, “Laws and statutes governing election contests especially (in the) appreciation of ballots must be liberally construed to the end that the will of the electorate in the choice of public officials may not be defeated by technical infirmities.”

Thus, it said the HRET should have “properly counted in favor of petitioner and not nullified as stray votes after considering all relevant circumstances” when it resolved the subsequent election protest.

“Such votes could not have been intended for Edilito C. Martinez who was declared a nuisance candidate by final judgment,” it added.

“Otherwise, potential nuisance candidates will continue to put the electoral process into mockery by filing certificates of candidacy at the last minute and delaying resolution of any petition to declare them nuisance candidates until elections are held and the votes counted and canvassed,” the SC said.

Martinez is reportedly again running for Congress against Salimbangon in the coming polls. He is allied with the Liberal Party, while Salimbangon is identified with the One Cebu party and Lakas-Kampi-CMD.