Supreme Court stops Serapio

The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order yesterday barring former Valenzuela City Rep. Antonio Serapio from taking over the post of his arch rival, Mayor Jose Emmanuel Carlos, in compliance with a poll protest case ruling issued by Caloocan City Judge Adoracion Angeles last week.

While Serapio may have initially won in his electoral protest, Carlos apparently got the upper hand after the High Court, which was supposed to be on vacation because the justices are writing their decisions, found his petition "sufficient in form and substance."

Corollary to the directive to Serapio, Angeles was also told to "cease and desist" from further taking cognizance of the latter's electoral protest, including the motion for execution filed by the defeated mayoralty candidate in May 1998.

"Now, therefore, TRO is hereby issued, effective immediately and continuing until further orders of this court, ordering you respondent Judge Angeles to cease and desist from further taking cognizance of the election protest," a portion of the single-page en banc resolution read. The TRO was issued by Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.

Carlos filed an administrative complaint at the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) against Angeles, and accused her of grave abuse of discretion, partially and gross ignorance of the law for her decision to direct the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to nullify Carlos' proclamation.

Angeles had ruled that the 1998 elections in Valenzuela was marred by massive fraud allegedly perpetuated by the camp of Carlos and that his opponent, who lost to him by a margin of 25,000 votes, was the duly-elected mayor.

But Carlos contested Angeles' ruling, saying he even managed to get 2,000 votes more when the Comelec conducted a recount. "With her decision, Angeles was the one who suppressed the true will of the electorate of Valenzuela and virtually appointed Serapio as mayor," he said.

It was revealed that of the 27,000 votes, 10,000 of these were slashed by Angeles and ruled that these were either "stray or tampered votes." Despite this, Carlos insisted he still won by a 17,000 vote margin which, he said, was disregarded by the judge.

Meanwhile, Carlos lauded the Supreme Court order.

Carlos said the TRO would ensure that things will run smoothly at the city hall despite Angeles' alleged questionable order.

Carlos vowed to continue the fight against Angeles' decision, saying it was "highly-irregular and questionable." -- Rainier Allan Ronda