Comelec lifts suspension on Teodoro’s proclamation

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has lifted the suspension on the proclamation of Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro as the winning congressman of the city’s 1st District.

In a resolution issued on June 25, the Comelec en banc reversed a previous ruling of the poll body’s First Division canceling Teodoro’s certificate of candidacy (COC).

Comelec Chairman George Garcia and two other poll commissioners inhibited from Teodoro’s case due to previous personal relationships with the parties in the complaint. Four commissioners voted to set aside the December 2024 ruling.

Teodoro won over Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III in the May midterm elections.

Pimentel was among the petitioners who sought the cancellation of Teodoro’s COC for congressman.

According to Comelec, the petitioners failed to prove that Teodoro committed material misrepresentation in his COC since he served as 1st District representative for three consecutive terms.

“The mischief which the constitutional provisions seek to suppress is clearly absent in the respondent’s case because his domicile of origin is in the 1st District of Marikina,” the Comelec ruled. “Even if he previously declared his residence in 2nd District, it does not conclusively prove a change in domicile.”

The Comelec suspended Teodoro’s proclamation pending resolution of the disqualification complaint filed against him by Pimentel.

Garcia said it would take five days before the Comelec ruling becomes executory.

“After five days, the Board of Canvassers will decide when it will convene and proclaim Teodoro,” he said.

Pimentel may still file an appeal before the Supreme Court (SC), according to Garcia.

Teodoro: Victory for Marikina people

Teodoro said the Comelec decision is a victory for democracy and for the people of Marikina who elected him.

He said he is eager to work in the House of Representatives as he concludes his term as Marikina mayor on June 30.

“I welcome this decision. It affirms what we’ve believed from the beginning – that the voice of the people matters and should never be silenced,” Teodoro said in a statement.

He said the poll body’s decision showed that Pimentel’s petition seeking to disqualify him for material representation has no merit.

Teodoro thanked his supporters during the midterm elections.

‘Gates of electoral hell’

Calling the Comelec decision a “mockery of the Constitution,” Pimentel blasted the poll body for reversing the First Division’s resolution disqualifying Teodoro on material misrepresentation of residency requirements.

Pimentel said he would ask the high court to issue a temporary restraining order in a bid to stop Teodoro’s proclamation as Marikina congressman.

“I still have five days to file an appeal before the SC,” Pimentel said.

He said politicians may take advantage of the leniency in the en banc’s decision, which took no issue with Teodoro’s change of residency because of his domicile of origin in the first district and the former lawmaker’s experience there with knowledge of the constituency’s needs.

“This reversal is not just a legal setback. It’s clearly a betrayal of the Constitution and the democratic process. It sets a dangerous precedent and ‘opens the gates of electoral hell,” Pimentel said.

“If residency requirements mandated by the Constitution can be brushed aside with a flip of a resolution, what stops others from manipulating the system? Article VI, Section 6 of the Constitution is clear that a congressional candidate must be a resident of the district for at least one year before the election,” Pimentel, a former Senate president and Bar topnotcher, added.

He said this may open the floodgates for politicians to abuse the law. — Emmanuel Tupas, Marc Jayson Cayabyab