FEDERICO vs. COMELEC

G.R. No. 199612, JANUARY 22, 2013

DOCTRINE: Under Sec. 15 of RA 9369 which governs the conduct of automated elections, the Comelec is empowered by law to prescribe such rules so as to make efficacious and successful the conduct of the first national automated election: “the Comelec, which has the constitutional mandate to enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election,”

In resolving that the deadline for all substitutions must be made on or before Dec. 15, 2009 pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 8678, COMELEC did not abuse its discretion.

FACTS: Edna Sanchez and private respondent Maligaya were candidates for the position of municipal mayor of Sto. Tomas, Batangas, in the May 10, 2010 Automated National and Local Elections. Maligaya was the Liberal Party’s official mayoralty candidate.

On April 27, 2010, Armando Sanchez, husband of Edna and the gubernatorial candidate for the province of Batangas, died. On April 29, 2010, Edna withdrew her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the position of mayor. She then filed a new COC and the corresponding Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) for the position of governor as substitute candidate for her deceased husband.

Subsequently, petitioner Renato M. Federico (Federico) filed his COC and CONA as official candidate of the Nationalista Party and as substitute candidate for mayor, in lieu of Edna.

Private Respondent sought to declare petitioner ineligible because his COC was allegedly filed after the deadline had lapsed pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 8678.

However, the COMELEC en banc resolved to give due course to the candidacy of Edna and Petitioner.

However, by the time of the elections, because the ballots had already been printed, the name of Edna was still on the ballots for the position of Mayor of Sto. Tomas against Private Respondent. In fact, Edna garnered the most votes for that election, beating Private Respodent for the position of mayor. Eventually the board ofcanvassers credited the votes of Edna to Petitioner (who was the replacement of Edna).

Private Respondent filed this petition to annul the proclamation of Petitioner Federico.

The COMELEC en banc eventually annulled the proclamation of Petitioner and proclaimed Private Respondent Maligaya as mayor (Maligaya na sya). The COMELEC declared that Petitioner's substitution of Edna was void because if was filed after the period for filing of COCs had lapsed.

Petitioner filed a petitin for certiorari with the Supreme Court. He claimed that Comelec Resolution No. 8678, which fixed a period for the filing of COCs and CONAs cannot prevail over the Omnibus Election code, specifically Sec. 77 which provides that a party's replacement candidate of one who withdraws, dies or is disqualified may be filed no later than mid-day of the elections.

ISSUE: Whether or not the Comelec gravely abused its discretion when it annulled Federico’s proclamation as the winning candidate on the ground that his substitution as mayoralty candidate was void.

HELD: No, the COMELEC did not gravely abuse its discretion. The Comelec is empowered by law to prescribe such rules so as to make efficacious and successful the conduct of the first national automated election. RA 9369 which governs the conduct of automated elections specifically allows COMELEC to set deadlines for the filing of certificates of candidacy etc.

Under Sec. 15, “the Comelec, which has the constitutional mandate to enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election,”

In resolving that the deadline for all substitutions must be made on or before Dec. 15, 2009 pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 8678, COMELEC did not abuse its discretion.

Thus, the substitution of Petitioner was made out of time and was thus void.

Wherefore, Maligaya pa rin si Maligaya.