Before Comelec Disqualification case filed vs Pe

CEBU, Philippines -  Cebu City Councilor Augustus “Jun” Pe is facing a disqualification case filed by two members of the Team Rama before the Commission on Elections.

Through their lawyer, Leticia “Inday Tikay” Gonzalez and Ronald Diola filed the petition to disqualify Pe before the Comelec Manila yesterday.

Delon Urot, lead counsel for Gonzalez and Diola, said the petition was personally endorsed to the Comelec by Jocelyn Pesquera, one of Team Rama’s legal counsels.

Gonzalez and Diola are running for City Council in south district, where Pe is also running under the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan. Gonzalez and Diola assailed Pe’s candidacy on the grounds that it is prohibited under the Local Government Code.

The Local Government Code barred a third-termer official from running for the same position.

Urot quoted Section 43(b) of the code, which states that “No local elective official shall serve for more than three (3) consecutive terms in the same position.”

Pe, who is serving his third and last term as councilor in the north district, filed his certificate of candidacy for the same post in the south district, where he currently lives.

Urot said the disqualification case will not end even if Pe will resign from the council.

He said that under the same section of the law: “Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of service for the full term for which the elective official concerned was elected.”

“He claims residence in the south but he is serving the north. If he resigns, it still does not erase the fact that he is still serving as a councilor,” Urot explained.

Urot added that they asked the Comelec to cancel Pe’s COC for “material misrepresentation.”

For his part, Pe said he would answer the case once he is ordered to do so. He said he has yet to receive a copy of the petition.

Pe’s application to transfer his residency to the south was approved by the Comelec on August 22.

Edwin Cadungog, the election officer of the south district, had said that it is the incumbent candidate’s “prerogative” to register in another area as long as his duties and responsibilities are not hampered.

Cadungog also said that the Comelec has no existing rules requiring the transferring officials to resign from their post, but admitted that it is one of the “loopholes” of the Omnibus Election Code.

Pe had earlier said that he will not resign as councilor of the north district.

Pe is purportedly banking on a Supreme Court ruling which disallowed a third-term mayor from running for reelection when the local government unit he is serving becomes a city.

The High Court said that despite the LGU’s new status, it still does not change the fact that it is still under the same constituency.

Pe has been contending that although he is running for the same position, it is in a different constituency.

The Comelec has announced that it will resolve all disqualification cases before December 21 to give parties time to replace their disqualified members. — /LPM (FREEMAN)