New Zambales town mayor proclaimed

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has proclaimed a losing candidate in the 2010 elections as new mayor of San Antonio town in Zambales following the disqualification of Mayor Romeo Lonzanida.

In a resolution released last week, the high court declared Estela Deloso-Antipolo as mayor after ruling that the certificate of candidacy of Lonzanida was void ab initio (from the start).

The SC held that Antipolo was the only qualified candidate who garnered the highest number of votes and should be proclaimed mayor.

In a nutshell, the high court held that while Lonzanida garnered the most number of votes in the 2010 mayoralty poll, he was disqualified because of an earlier conviction for falsification of document by the Sandiganbayan and he had previously served three consecutive terms.

The SC ordered Vice Mayor Efren Arathea, who has been serving as acting mayor of the municipality, to immediately vacate the post and turn it over to Antipolo six months into the next election in May 2013. The High Tribunal junked Arathea’s petition seeking his declaration as mayor.

It veered away from its previous doctrine of promoting the vice mayor to the top City Hall post once the mayor is disqualified or removed.

As basis for the decision, the high court affirmed a Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution in February 2011 ordering the cancellation of Lonzanida’s certificate of candidacy and also striking off his name in the list of official candidates for the mayoralty post in the last poll.

“Lonzanida’s disqualification is two-pronged: first, he violated the constitutional fiat on the three-term limit; and second, as early as Dec. 1, 2009, he is known to have been convicted by final judgment for 10 counts of falsification under Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code,” stated the ruling penned by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

Ten other justices concurred with the ruling.

On Lonzanida’s disqualification based on his conviction, the high court ruled that “the conviction of Lonzanida by final judgment, with the penalty of prision mayor, disqualifies him perpetually from holding any public office, or from being elected to any public office.”

The decision further explained that Lonzanida’s disqualification “took effect upon the finality of the judgment of conviction, before Lonzanida filed his certificate of candidacy.”

Because of this, Antipolo should be proclaimed as the duly elected mayor as she remained as the sole qualified candidate for the mayoralty post and obtained the highest number of votes.