Comelec finally lets Cebu town mayor take over

CEBU — The declared winner in the 2001 mayoral race in Madridejos town will finally assume her office after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) recalled its earlier status quo ante order that prevented her from doing so.

The other day, Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos recalled his May 5 order, saying that the writ of execution issued by the poll body’s first division had already been implemented.

Abalos said the status quo order was rendered moot and academic because it was issued after Salazar assumed the town’s mayoralty post.

"The act sought to be restrained is already fait accompli, and thus, could no longer be undone by the sheer expedience of issuing a status quo ante order," Abalos said in his recall order.

In his two-page recall order, Abalos said Zenaida Salazar already took her oath last May 4 before Gov. Pablo Garcia following the Comelec’s writ of execution, which enforced a March 25 resolution ordering Mayor Lety Mancio to step down because she was not the true winner in the 2001 polls.

Salazar won by a slim margin of 48 votes over Mancio during a revision of ballots from 71 precincts in Madridejos, prompting the Comelec to nullify Mancio’s proclamation as mayor and reverse a Regional Trial Court ruling upholding her victory.

In the previous official results, Mancio defeated Salazar by 72 votes, having garnered 5,298 votes against Salazar’s 5,226. — Freeman News Service