Comelec to resolve dispute over Palawan governorship

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to resolve this week the dispute over the governorship of Palawan which has remained void following the disappearance of Gov. Salvador Socrates in a plane crash in July this year.

Meanwhile, Douglas Salon Hagedorn, who contested the gubernatorial seat against Socrates in the May 1998 election, urged his provincemates to exercise restraint while awaiting the Comelec en banc ruling on the issue.

The poll body’s legal department has reportedly decided that Hagedorn won the gubernatorial post over Socrates.

Vice Gov. Joel Reyes has assumed the governorship pending official affirmation and declaration by the Comelec that Hagedorn was, indeed, the duly elected governor of Palawan.

Lawyer Jose Balbuena, chief of the Comelec legal department, advised Palaweños, specifically the contending parties, to "leave everything now to the wisdom of the Comelec commissioners who will decide on the case as a collegial body."

Balbuena expressed confidence that the commissioners will sustain his team’s findings that Hagedorn was the rightful winner of Palawan’s gubernatorial race in 1998.

Comelec lawyer Michael Valdez noted that while the law stipulates that a missing person may only be officially declared dead after four years, it would be unfair for the people of Palawan to be allowed to wait that long before they can have a governor.

"That’s why we ruled against (Reyes’) motion as the Comelec legal department earlier declared Hagedorn the winner and duly elected governor of Pala-wan," Valdez said.