Comelec en banc reinstates “disqualified” brgy chairman

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — The Commission on Elections had reinstated to his post a barangay chairman in Cauayan town, Negros Occidental, after he was earlier disqualified due to question of residency.

The Comelec en banc, in a decision signed by then Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr, ruled that respondent Ernie Magbanua was a certified resident of Barangay Poblacion in Cauayan, not as otherwise accused of.

Magbanua, after the October 28, 2013 barangay polls, was disqualified by the Comelec First Division granting the petition of Sergio Esmores Jr. who claimed that the village head was not a resident of the barangay he was heading.

Esmores insisted that Magbanua has not complied with the candidate’s residency requirement of at least one year before the barangay elections.

On May 13 last year, the Comelec First Division ruled in favor of Esmores and then ordered the Barangay Board of Canvassers to reconvene and annul Magbanua’s proclamation as the duly elected barangay chairman of Poblacion.

On June 10, 2014, Magbanua filed for a motion for reconsideration and eventually the poll body’s en banc reversed the division’s ruling and dismissed Esmores’s petition for lack of merit.

The en banc resolution found that Magbanua presented substantial evidences to prove his residency in Poblacion, such as certificates of live birth and baptism, and school records, among others, which were uncontroverted.  (FREEMAN)