SC clarifies 3-term election rule as it reinstates mayor

MANILA, Philippines - Barely four months into the midterm polls on May 13, the Supreme Court (SC) clarified yesterday the constitutional limit of three terms imposed on elected officials.

In a 34-page decision, the SC held that a term interrupted by a ruling on an election protest is not covered by the three-term rule.

According to the SC, when a local official is elected for the same post for three consecutive terms and is not able to completely finish any of those terms after being removed as a result of an election protest, he or she can still qualify for another term.

“An involuntary interrupted term, cannot, in the context of the disqualification rule, be considered as one term for purposes of counting the three-term threshold,” read the unanimous SC decision penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.

The SC made this ruling on the case of Mayor Abelardo Abundo of Viga, Catanduanes.

Abundo ran for mayor in four successive elections – 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010. In 2001 and 2007, he emerged winner and assumed the mayoral post.

In the 2004 election, however, Abundo’s rival, Jose Torres, was initially proclaimed the winner. Abundo protested Torres’ proclamation and succeeded in the case until he assumed the mayoral post on May 9, 2006 or for a period of a little over a year until June 30, 2007.

In the 2010 election, the rivalry between Abundo and Torres again ensued. Torres filed a disqualification case against Abundo on the basis of the three-term limit.

On June 16, 2010, the Commission on Elections ruled in favor of Abundo who defeated Torres by 219 votes. He was proclaimed mayor-elect of Viga town.

On May 21, 2010, a certain Ernesto Vega filed a quo warranto action against Abundo before the Virac regional trial court (RTC). Vega raised the same arguments in Torres’ disqualification case against Abundo.

The RTC said Abundo was ineligible to serve as mayor with a ruling that he had served three terms in the 2001, 2004, and 2007 polls.

Both the rulings of the Comelec’s Second Division on Feb. 8, 2012 and full court on May 10, 2012 affirmed the RTC decision, prompting Abundo to elevate the issue before the SC.

Viga Vice Mayor Emeterio Tarin and first councilor Cesar Cervantes assumed the post of mayor and vice mayor, respectively, on July 3, 2012, the same day the SC issued a temporary restraining order stopping the implementation of the Comelec decision against Abundo.

Ruling in favor of Abundo’s petition and reversing the Comelec decision, the SC said, “The almost two-year period which Abundo’s opponent actually served as mayor is and ought to be considered an involuntary interruption of Abundo’s continuity of service.”

With the ruling, the SC ordered the immediate reinstatement of Abundo as Viga mayor and reversion of Tarin and Cervantes to their original posts as vice mayor and first councilor, respetively.