Comelec upholds Pasay councilor's election bid

MANILA, Philippines - A petition seeking to bar a Pasay City councilor from running on May 10 was dismissed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the grounds that she has not completed her third three-year term.

The Comelec agreed with Councilor Edita Vergel De Dios that despite having been elected thrice, she was not able to filly serve her second term.

“(The) respondent has not served three full terms and respondent is eligible to run in the 2010 polls,” read the Comelec resolution.

Vergel De Dios, along with Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad and other local officials, were suspended for six months beginning Sept. 5, 2006 due to an administrative case.

The Office of the Ombudsman found Vergel De Dios and co-respondents guilty of grave misconduct and they were dismissed from service.

The poll body said the suspension had disrupted the Vergel De Dios’ continuity in office and that she had not fully served her second term.

“The dismissal of respondent is an interruption in the continuity of her service for the full term for which she was elected which will mean that she was not able to serve fully her second term,” read the resolution.

“That being the case, we cannot apply the three-term in her favor, hence, she is only seeking her second term this 2010 elections which makes her eligible to run as councilor in Pasay City.

“We conclude that the respondent has not made any material representation in her certificate of candidacy, and is therefore qualified to run in the May 10, 2010 national and local elections.”

Last December, barangay councilman Gilbert Aguilar filed a petition before the Comelec seeking to disqualify Vergel De Dios from running in the May 10 elections based on the allegations that she had already served three full terms.

Vergel De Dios made a material misrepresentation in her certificate of candidacy when she stated that she is eligible to run as councilor since she already served as councilor in 2001-2004; 2004-2007 and 2007-2010, Aguilar said in his petition.        – Rhodina Villanueva