Ondona v. Commission On Elections

SANCHEZ, J.:

Appeal from two resolutions of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) dismissing petitioner's petition for the annulment of canvass and proclamation made by the municipal canvassing board of Cagwait, Surigao del Sur, on November 16, 1967. An account of the facts following the November 14, 1967 elections in Cagwait follows: On November 16, 1967, a canvass of the votes cast for the candidates for municipal offices was made by four members of the municipal board of canvassers of Cagwait Surigao del Sur. Among those proclaimed was Liberal Party mayoralty candidate Adelfo Luengas who garnered 1372 votes.

Nacionalista Party mayoralty candidate Clenio L. Ondona, with 1351 votes, lost. On the same date, November 16, 1967, right after canvass, Clenio L. Ondona filed with Election Registrar of Cagwait, Esteban T. Degamo, a petition for annulment of the canvass and proclamation. The petition was directed against the municipal canvassing board.

Receipt of the petition was acknowledged by the election registrar. 1 An election protest was thereafter, on November 29, 1967, registered by Ondona against Luengas before the Court of First Instance of Surigao del Sur. 2 Protested by Ondona were (a) the alleged extension of the casting of ballots in Precinct 7 beyond six o'clock in the evening to almost twelve o'clock midnight in order to allow the casting of votes in favor of his opponent Luengas; and (b) the counting of the votes in Precinct 7 where the inspectors allegedly read in favor of Luengas the votes cast for Ondona or rejected said votes.

The protest pointed out that had said votes been counted in favor of Ondona, the latter would have won in the elections.lawphi1.ñet Adelfo Luengas lodged his Answer With Counter-Protest on December 16, 1967. It was only on December 29, 1967 that Ondona's petition filed with the Election Registrar for the annulment of canvass and proclamation was submitted to Comelec. The grounds cited by Ondona in this petition were: (a) that the canvass was not attended by a quorum; (b) that not one of the candidates was notified of the canvass nor present therein, particularly petitioner Ondona and (c) that the election registrar was not also notified of said canvass.

On January 16, 1968, the petition was dismissed by Comelec. Cause for such dismissal was, as stated by Comelec in that resolution, premised as follows: Considering that up to the present, there is no report yet received from the Election Registrar of Cagwait, Surigao del Sur, and there is no indication that such report is forthcoming; and considering further that the certificate of canvass and proclamation was signed by a majority of four members who are not in any way disqualified, among the seven who compose the Municipal Board of Canvassers of Cagwait, Surigao del Sur, and therefore, validly made; and considering finally that, based on the Commission copies of the election returns, the petitioner and the other candidate who was proclaimed as Mayor elect received the following votes: Prec No. Adelfo C. Luengas Clenio L. Ondona 1 30 116 2 26 113 3 58 145 4 71 126 5 228 52 6 240 110 7 245 58 8 141 90 9 163 105 10 105 106 11 58 178 12 7 132 TOTAL -