SC: Jalosjos Stays as Second District Zamboanga Sibugay Representative

06 July 2012 - Romeo M. Jalosjos, Jr. will stay as Representative of the Second District of Zamboanga Sibugay. Jalosjos won and was declared winner as Representative of the Second District of Zamboanga Sibugay in the May 2010 elections.

Voting unanimously, the Supreme Court En Banc reiterated the demarcation line between the jurisdiction of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) as it granted the petition of Jalosjos (GR No. 192474) to reverse and set aside the COMELEC en banc’s June 3, 2010 order that granted the motion for reconsideration of his rival Dan Erasmo, Sr. and declared Jalosjos ineligible to seek election in his current post for failing to satisfy the residency requirement.

In a nine-page decision penned by Justice Roberto A. Abad, the Court also reinstated the COMELEC Second Division’s resolution dated February 23, 2010 dismissing Erasmo’s petition to cancel Jalosjos’ Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for insufficiency in form and substance. It also dismissed for lack of jurisdiction the petition in GR No. 192704 and GR No. 193566 concerning the COMELEC’s failure to annul Jalosjos’ proclamation and his exclusion from the voters’ list, respectively.

“The Court has already settled the question of when the jurisdiction of the COMELEC ends and when that of the HRET begins. The proclamation of a congressional candidate following the election divests COMELEC of jurisdiction over disputes relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the proclaimed Representative in favor of the HRET,” ruled the Court.

The Court held that when the COMELEC en banc issued its order dated June 3, 2010, Jalosjos had already been proclaimed on May 13, 2010 as winner in the election. Thus, the COMELEC acted without jurisdiction when it still passed upon the issue of his qualification and declared him ineligible for the office of Representative of the 2nd District of Zamboanga Sibugay. It further held that the last standing official action in his case before the election day was the ruling of the COMELEC’s Second Division that allowed his name to stay on the voters’ registration list.

“With the fact of [Jalosjos’] proclamation and assumption of office, any issue regarding his qualification for the same, like his alleged lack of the required residence, was solely for the HRET to consider and decide,” ruled the Court.

The Court held that the COMELEC en banc exceeded its jurisdiction in declaring Jalosjos ineligible for the position of representative for the said post, which he had won in the elections, since it had ceased to have jurisdiction over his case.

The Court also dismissed Erasmo’s petition questioning the validity of the registration of Jalosjos as a voter and the COMELEC’s failure to annul his proclamation, ruling that “the Court cannot usurp the power vested by the Constitution solely on the HRET.”

In May 2007, Jalosjos, Jr. ran for Mayor of Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte and won. While serving as Tampilisan Mayor, he bought a house and lot in Brgy. Veterans Village, Ipil Zamboanga, Sibugan and occupied the same in September 2008. In May 2009, Jalosjos applied with the Election Registration Board (ERB) of Ipil, Zamboanga, Sibugay for transfer of his voter’s registration record to Precinct 0051F of Brgy. Veterans Village.

The ERB approved Jalosjos’ application and denied Erasmo’s opposition thereto. Erasmo later filed a petition to exclude Jalosjos from the list of registered voters of the above-named precinct before the First Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Ipil-Tungawan-R.T. Lim (MCTC). The MCTC, excluding Jalosjos from the list of registered voters in question, ruled that he did not abandon his domicile in Tampilisan since he continued even then to serve as its Mayor. Jalosjos appealed his  case to Regional Trial Court of Pagadian City, which affirmed the MCTC decision.

Jalosjos then elevated the matter to the Court of Appeals, which issued a writ of preliminary injunction enjoining the trial courts from enforcing their decisions.

On November 28, 2009, Jalosjos filed Certificate of Candidacy for the position of Representative of the 2nd District of Zamboanga Sibugay for the May 2010 elections. Erasmo filed a petition to cancel Jalosjos’ COC before the COMELEC, claiming that Jalosjos made material misrepresentations in that COC when he indicated in it that he resided in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay.

On February 23, 2010, the COMELEC SecondDivision dismissed Erasmo’s petition for insufficiency in form and substance. While Eramos’ motion for reconsideration was pending before the COMELC en banc, Jalosjos won as Representative of the Second District of Zamboanga Siguay in the May 10, 2010 elections and was proclaimed winner. Subsequently, the COMELEC en banc granted Erasmo’s motion for reconsideration and declared Jalosjos ineligible to seek election as Representative of the said district.

Both Jalosjos and Erasmo came up to this Court on certiorari. In GR 192474, Jalosjos challenges the COMELEC’s finding that he did not meet the residency requirement and its denial of his right to due process, citing Roces v. HRET. In GR 192704, Erasmo assails the COMELEC en banc’s failure to annul Jalosjos’ proclamation as election Representative of the Second District of Zamboanga Sibugay despite his declared ineligibility.

Meanwhile, on June 2, 2010, the CA rendered judgment in the voter’s exclusion case before it, holding that the lower courts erred in excluding Jalosjos from the voters list of Barangay Veterans Village in Ipil since he was qualified under the Constitution and RA 8189 to vote in that place. Eramo filed a petition for review of the CA decision with the Court.

Subsequently, the Court ordered the consolidation of the three related petitions. (GR No. 192474, Jalosjos, Jr. v. COMELEC; GR No. 192702, Erasmo v. Jalosjos, Jr.;  GR No. 193566, Erasmo, Sr. v. Jalosjos, June 26, 2012)

source: sc.judiciary.gov.ph 
emphasis provided by:  Broker Rem Ramirez