Comelec orders Cavite mayor to vacate post

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered Imus, Cavite Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi to vacate his post in favor of Homer Saquilayan, who was declared duly elected mayor of the city by the Supreme Court (SC) last week.

In a writ of execution dated March 15, director Betty Pizana of the Comelec Electoral Contests Adjudication Department ordered Maliksi to “cease and desist from discharging the powers and functions“ of the mayor of Imus, Cavite.

Maliksi was directed to “relinquish and vacate” the post and ensure a “peaceful and smooth turnover” of office.

The poll body ordered the provincial election supervisor and the Department of the Interior and Local Government to implement the order.

Voting 8-7, the SC declared Saquilayan as Imus mayor after a recount of the contested ballots showed that he got 48,521 votes against Maliksi’s 40,092 votes.

Saquilayan was proclaimed city mayor in 2010 but Maliksi filed an electoral protest  with the Imus regional trial court (RTC).

The Imus RTC ruled in favor of Maliksi in November 2011. 

Saquilayan filed a protest with the Comelec, which in turn upheld his proclamation in a resolution in September 2012.

 The Comelec decision prompted Maliksi to elevate the case to the high tribunal.