03 January 2006
Comelec stops ouster of Manaoag councilor
MANAOAG --The youngest member of the municipal council who topped the race for councilor in the last election and promoted later to vice mayor will keep his post.
The Second Division of the Commission on Elections assured Vice Mayor Kim Mikael Amador he stays as alderman when it reversed and set aside an earlier decision of the Regional Trial Court in Urdaneta City disqualifying him from continuing to serve as member of the sangguniang bayan.
The 10-page resolution signed by Presiding Commissioner Myhol K. Sadain and Commissioner Florentino Tuazon Jr. last Dec. 8 reversed the decision promulgated January 12, 2005 of Regional Trial Court Judge Joven Costales disqualifying the 26-year old Amador and ordering him to vacate his office.
With lawyer Villamor Tolete, Amador appealed the RTC decision before the Comelec, which eventually resolved the case in his favor.
Amador is the son of Alcide and Dahlia Amador, directors of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Philippine Tourism Authority, respectively.
As topnotcher in the council race in the last election, he was elevated to the position of vice mayor when Vice Mayor Pedrito Garcia died middle part of last year.
The case against the young Amador was filed by Wilfredo Sibayan, losing candidate for councilor, who sought the disqualification of the respondent despite having garnered the most number of votes in the council race.
Sibayan alleged that at the time of the filing of certificate of candidacy of Amador on January 5, 2004, he was not yet a registered voter of the town because his name was stricken out from the list of voters for not having voted in two consecutive elections.
However, earlier on Dec. 30, 2003, Amador filed a petition for inclusion of his name in the list of voters with the Municipal Trial Court which was approved by the court only on January 12, 2004.
Citing “Dura lex sed lex” (The law is harsh but it is the law), Judge Costales said the respondent may have all the intentions in the whole world to serve his constituents but he cannot continue because of the infirmities subsisting at the time he filed his certificate of candidacy.
In its resolution, the Comelec said that although Amador was not a registered voter at the time of his filing of certificate of candidacy, he became a registered voter on the day of the election.
Citing a ruling of the Supreme Court, the poll body said Amador is eligible to hold office in as much as he possessed all the required qualifications at the time of his proclamation and at the time he assumed office.
It said the defect, if any, is not so patently antagonistic or noxious to the Constitution and laws as to nullify the overwhelming voice of the people in favor of Amador.
“In fact, the Supreme Court emphasized that the Local Government Code requires an elective official to be a registered voter. It does not require him to vote actually. Hence, registration--not actual voting—is the core of this disqualification.
Citing the Supreme Court decision, the Comelec said that undeniably, respondent-appellant was a registered voter at the time of elections and continues to be so until the present.
