‘Hagedorn case a dangerous precedent’

When the Supreme Court allowed former three-term Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn to be declared winner in the recall polls, it actually gave local officials the legitimate excuse to deviate from the three-consecutive-term prohibition.

This was the concern raised by Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., a former chairman of the Commission on Elections and delegate to the 1986 Constitutional Commission, as he stressed that the ban on fourth terms is absolute.

In his 17-page dissent, most of which he devoted to printing the transcripts of the Constitutional Commission proceedings, he said that to make Hagedorn qualify "is to subvert the rationale of the three-consecutive-term rule and make a mockery of it."

"Worse, it abets destructive endless partisan politics and unsound governance," he explained, as he disagreed with his colleagues’ position that recall polls are not similar to regular elections, which are held every three years.

"An elective official who is disqualified to seek a fourth term but obsessed with holding on to power would spend the first year of the fourth term campaigning for the recall of the incumbent in the second year of said term," he warned.

Davide and Junior Justice Adolf Azcuna were among the two who dissented with 11 of their colleagues, who held that Hagedorn was qualified to run for the Sept. 24 recall polls because it was not covered by the Constitutional prohibition. Hagedorn won in the 1992, 1995 and 1998 elections in the Palawan capital. He ran but lost in the gubernatorial race in May 2001. But he joined in the recall polls initiated by opponents of then Puerto Princesa Mayor Victorino Dennis Socrates.

"For one to be able to run again after three consecutive terms, he has to rest for the entire immediately succeeding fourth term. The term of office covered by the May 2001 election is up to June 30, 2004, Davide said.

In raising the issue of endless politics in the local level, the SC chief noted that the president of the Association of Barangay Captains is Mark David Hagedorn, who was coincidentally designated interim chairman of the Preparatory Recall Assembly.

For a recall move to prosper, all that is required is to get 25 percent of the total number of registered voters in a particular area to sign and declare a loss of confidence in the local chief executive. It must also bear the approval of the ABC.