Compostela is a 4th class municipality in Cebu with roughly 40,000 inhabitants. It is located 25 kilometers north of Cebu City, between the City of Danao and its more progressive neighbor Liloan just across the Cotcot River.
Not much can be said to distinguish Compostela. It is a quiet little town of hardy but gentle people making a decent living as unobtrusively as they can from what the land provides out of a narrow strip of hills that inexorably rolls their way down to the sea.
About the only thing that makes Compostela stand out these days is that it has gone without a complete set of elected public officials for more than a year already, perhaps the only town in the world to go leaderless for so long, making it ripe for a Guinness listing.
Yet, not even such an anomalous uniqueness has managed to attract positive attention. About the only talk that revolves around Compostela is the apparent sadness of its plight. There is never any discussion about how to its problem might be fixed.
Right after the May 2010 elections, a new set of officials was proclaimed by the Comelec. But for whatever reason, the Comelec suspended its own proclamation, on the basis of a protest filed by the losing set of officials.
Normally, the Comelec goes ahead with a proclamation and lets the proclaimed winners sit, even as it entertains and tries to resolve what election protest may be lodged in the wake of the proclamation.
There is wisdom and regularity in letting proclaimed winners sit, even if their winning is being contested. Their assumption of office, based on presumption of regularity and innocence, is without prejudice to the final resolution of the case.
More importantly, however, it assures the delivery of basic services and provides the leadership and the rallying point that is the very core principle of why people elect leaders in the first place.
But going against the norm, the Comelec suspended its own proclamation, and left the town of Compostela leaderless. Worse, as if handling the hottest of potatoes, the local Comelec tossed the case to its Manila head office, where it has languished since then.
The Comelec is notorious for taking its sweet time in deciding cases. Nevertheless, it is still not a completely helpless case if leaders are in place to exercise authority, no matter how temporary, during the pendency of election protests.
But in the case of Compostela, not only is the Comelec taking its usual sweet time to resolve case, it has left the town with nobody in charge. This is willful sabotage of a people’s constitutional rights.
Oh yes some caretaker has been designated to discharge some semblance of authority in the town. But let us not kid ourselves. People can accept the winner of a coin-toss to determine a particularly close contest. But there is no lamer and more ineffective person than a caretaker.
Unfortunately for the people of Compostela, it is very doubtful if even the president of the Philippines is aware of their plight, or whether he would actually be willing to do something to help if he is.
Of course, the president cannot intervene in the electoral protest. The Comelec is an independent constitutional body that is not under the president. But what the president lacks in persuasive influence, he can make up with moral authority.
Without meaning to meddle, he can assume his moral obligation to look after his people. A mere inquiry into the status of the case can jolt Comelec into some kind of action. But either the president sees Compostela as too insignificant, or he is simply clueless about the situation.