For "Illegal composition of CBOC": Comelec annuls Cari proclamation

CEBU, Philippines - The proclamation of Baybay City (Leyte) Mayor Carmen Cari in the May 13 election was declared "illegal and should be annulled," because the City Board of Canvassers (CBOC) was "illegally constituted," according to the ruling of the Comelec First Division promulgated last Nov. 28.

The Comelec resolution, a copy of which was provided to The Freeman the other day, was penned by presiding commissioner Lucenito Tagle, and signed by Commissioners Christian Robert Lim and Al Parreno.

In its resolution, the Comelec granted the appeal of mayoralty bet, Marilou "Malot" Galenzoga, to declare the CBOC composition illegal, under Comelec Resolution 9648, and the proclamation of Cari "reversed and set aside."

The resolution stated that, during the canvassing, the Baybay CBOC was composed of election officer Susan Collamar, as chair, city local civil registrar Noel Managbanag, vice chair, and city social welfare development officer Loreta Malabanan, member.

This CBOC, on May 14 or a day after the election, declared Cari winner for the mayoralty post against Galenzoga, but the latter filed a pre-proclamation petition alleging that the board's composition was illegal thus the proclamation was void. The CBOC however denied Galenzoga's plea, prompting the latter to elevate the case to the Comelec's First Division.

The resolution also states that Collamar defended the CBOC composition, saying that provincial election supervisor Richard Alvin Japon named Managbanag and Malabanan as substitutes for the city prosecutor and DepEd division superintendent, respectively, who were at the time "disqualified to sit as CBOC members for being mere OICs."

However, Galenzoga argued that Managbanag and Malabanan, based on their positions in government, were not in the order of priority to substitute the city prosecutor or the DepEd superintendent, and thus their substitution was erroneous, based on Comelec Resolution 9648.

Cari, in her comment to the case, rebutted Galenzoga's claims, insisting that the CBOC was legally constituted and that "Managbanag and Malabanan possessed all the qualifications ... to be members of the CBOC."

The Comelec however denied this contention, citing sec. 4 of  Comelec Resolution 9648 on substitution in CBOC membership: For the city prosecutor, the next in line will be "the provincial auditor, then the register of deeds, then the clerk of court of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities and later the clerk of court of the Regional Trial Court of Baybay City."

Collamar had argued that City Prosecutor Rosulo Vivero was an OIC and thus disqualified, and since the city government has no city auditor and register of deeds, and that the MTCC clerk of court was also disqualified for being a relative of a candidate for councilor, Managbanag was then named to the CBOC.

The Comelec ruled though that there was still lawyer Michelle Marie Polo-Tesorero, clerk of court of RTC-Baybay, who was the next in the line of succession, and "she should be the one to be appointed first as a valid substitute," instead of Managbanag.

In the case of  Malabanan, her appointment was also "improper," said the Comelec. It stated that, if the city schools superintendent was disqualified, for being an OIC, "another representative from DepEd shall sit as member, in the order of succession as follows district school supervisor or the principal, and then the city or provincial schools superintendent with any appointive city official as the fourth option only."

"Considering that the CBOC of Baybay City was illegally constituted, necessarily the proclamation of respondent (Mayor) Cari is illegal and should be annulled," said the Comelec resolution.

With the annulment of the proclamation, the Comelec then ordered the reconstitution of the CBOC, with Collamar as chair, RTC-Baybay clerk of court, second member, and a DepEd representative as third member.

The Comelec then ordered the new members of the CBOC to "reconvene and canvass to determine and proclaim the winning candidate for the position of mayor in the city of  Baybay, Leyte."

The Comelec decision may have rendered Cari no longer the city mayor, but then she still has the option to file for a motion for reconsideration on the resolution, according to a clerk of court of the First Division in a phone call yesterday. RAE (FREEMAN)