SC unseats Lucy as Leyte representative

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday unseated celebrity Lucy Torres-Gomez as representative of the 4th District of Leyte.

Justices of the high court voted 7-4-4 in regular session to declare invalid her substitution to husband, actor Richard Gomez, and eventual proclamation as winner in the congressional race during the May 2010 elections.

The SC also nullified a ruling of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) in March last year that upheld the substitution by Mrs. Gomez as indorsed by President Aquino’s Liberal Party.

The ruling came barely two months before the May 13 polls and just three months left of Mrs. Gomez’s term.

Torres-Gomez maintained yesterday that she continues to have the solid mandate of her constituents even as she slammed her political opponents for using technicalities in trying to oust her.

“They (political opponents) did this before. This is the same style. What’s important is that the people of Ormoc know that no amount of technicality will erase the fact that I have the mandate of the people,” Torres-Gomez said in a hastily called press conference in Greenhills, San Juan that was also attended by her father Manoling and lawyer Alex Avisado.

She said that her camp never resorted to dirty tricks, and had always been fair and square.

“To the people (of Leyte), I know things will fall into the right place. Given the chance, I will continue to fight for you. You know that I have served you well and I will continue to serve you. You know I have been faithful in my duties as congresswoman, and this will carry me through,” she said.

Avisado said they would file a motion for reconsideration as soon as they receive an official copy of the ruling.

He stressed the SC was not final and executory.

A majority of the SC justices granted the petition of losing candidate Silverio Tagolino and held that the substitution was invalid because Richard Gomez was not an official candidate to begin with due to a cancelled certificate of candidacy (COC).

Citing Article VI Section 6 of the Constitution and section 77 of the Omnibus Election Code, the SC distinguished a candidate who was disqualified and another whose COC was cancelled. It held that the former might be substituted while the latter may not.

It stressed that a cancelled COC means an invalid candidacy – just like in the case of Richard Gomez. This resulted to invalid votes garnered by his wife Lucy who substituted for him.

“Pertinently, while a disqualified candidate is still considered to have been a candidate for all intents and purposes, on the other hand, a person whose COC had been denied due course to and/or cancelled is deemed to have not been a candidate at all,” explained the SC in the ruling penned by Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe. – With Paolo Romero, Lalaine Jimenea