This case has been cited 2 times or more.
|
2012-10-09 |
CARPIO, J. |
||||
| The distinction between a petition under Section 68 and a petition under Section 78 was discussed in Loong v. Commission on Elections[40] with respect to the applicable prescriptive period. Respondent Nur Hussein Ututalum filed a petition under Section 78 to disqualify petitioner Benjamin Loong for the office of Regional Vice-Governor of the Autonomous Government of Muslim Mindanao for false representation as to his age. The petition was filed 16 days after the election, and clearly beyond the prescribed 25 day period from the last day of filing certificates of candidacy. This Court ruled that Ututalum's petition was one based on false representation under Section 78, and not for disqualification under Section 68. Hence, the 25-day prescriptive period provided in Section 78 should be strictly applied. We recognized the possible gap in the law: It is true that the discovery of false representation as to material facts required to he stated in a certificate of candidacy, under Section 74 of the Code, may be made only after the lapse of the 25-day period prescribed by Section 78 of the Code, through no fault of the person who discovers such misrepresentations and who would want the disqualification of the candidate committing the misrepresentations. It would seem, therefore, that there could indeed be a gap between the time of the discovery of the misrepresentation, (when the discovery is made after the 25-day period under Sec. 78 of the Code has lapsed) and the time when the proclamation of the results of the election is made. During this so-called "gap" the would-be petitioner (who would seek the disqualification of the candidate) is left with nothing to do except to wait for the proclamation of the results, so that he could avail of a remedy against the misrepresenting candidate, that is, by filing a petition for quo warranto against him. Respondent Commission sees this "gap" in what it calls a procedural gap which, according to it, is unnecessary and should be remedied. | |||||
|
2008-12-18 |
NACHURA, J. |
||||
| Having thus determined that the Dilangalen petition is one under Section 78 of the OEC, the Court now declares that the same has to comply with the 25-day statutory period for its filing. Aznar v. Commission on Elections[50] and Loong v. Commission on Elections[51] give ascendancy to the express mandate of the law that "the petition may be filed at any time not later than twenty-five days from the time of the filing of the certificate of candidacy." Construed in relation to reglementary periods and the principles of prescription, the dismissal of "Section 78" petitions filed beyond the 25-day period must come as a matter of course. | |||||