Calimbas v. Commission On Elections

MELENCIO-HERRERA, J.:

A Petition for certiorari to set aside the Decision of respondent Commission on Elections (COMELEC), dated January 15, 1985, declaring respondent Armando M. QUIMLAT the duly elected Municipal Mayor of Morong, Bataan in the local elections of January 30, 1980. This Decision reversed on appeal the judgment of the then Court of First Instance of Bataan which proclaimed petitioner, Antonio S. CALIMBAS, as the duly elected Municipal Mayor of Morong, Bataan. The pertinent antecedents follow: In the 1980 local elections in Morong, Bataan, three candidates vied for the office of Municipal Mayor, namely, petitioner CALIMBAS (KBL); respondent QUIMLAT (NP); and Benjamin Escolango (NUL).

On January 31, 1980, CALIMBAS was proclaimed by the Municipal Board of Canvassers as the duly elected Municipal Mayor, with 2,545 votes, as against QUIMLAT's 2,103 votes, or a plurarity of 442 votes. On February 7, 1980, QUIMLAT lodged an election protest with the then Court of First Instance of Bataan, Branch I (Election Case No. 314), against CALIMBAS alleging fraud, massive vote-buying and terrorism in Voting Centers 1 and 2 of Mabayo, Morong, Bataan, and particularly, that "In Voting Center No. I in Barangay Mabayo only 299 voters actually cast their votes but the total votes counted were 644. ...

Protestee CALIMBAS filed his Answer denying the material averments of the protest and praying for its dismissal. In his Counter-Protest, CALIMBAS also contested, the election results in other specified Voting Centers. On March 17, 1982, the trial Court rendered judgment "thoroughly convinced that the frauds, notably the 508 votes counted by the Municipal Board of Canvassers in favor of the protestee in Mabayo Voting Center No. 1, the use of flying voters and the likes put up by both protestant and protestee do not have any factual basis", and declaring protestee CALIMBAS as the duly elected Municipal Mayor, with a plurality of 113 votes over protestant QUIMLAT.

QUIMLAT appealed to respondent COMELEC On January 15, 1985, the COMELEC promulgated its challenged Decision nullifying all the votes cast in Voting Center No. 1, Mabayo, on the basis of its finding that there were 151 excess votes, which are over 65% of the number of voters who actually voted, citing the ruling in Bashier et al. vs. COMELEC, et al.1 Accordingly, the COMELEC declared QUIMLAT as the duly elected Municipal Mayor of Morong, Bataan, with 1,762 votes as against 1,719 votes of CALIMBAS, or a plurality of 43 votes. CALIMBAS sought reconsideration, but the same was denied. Hence, this recourse on February 18, 1985.

On February 21, 1985, we issued a Temporary Restraining Order enjoining the COMELEC from enforcing its questioned Decision in EAC No. 10-82, and QUIMLAT from assuming the position of Municipal Mayor of Morong Bataan effective immediately, and continuing until further Orders from this Court. At the hearing on February 28, 1985, it was agreed that the only issue for resolution is whether or not COMELEC abused its discretion in concluding that in Voting Center No. 1, Mabayo, there were, in fact, 151 excess votes. At the same hearing, Assistant Solicitor General Eduardo Montenegro appeared for the COMELEC and manifested that he will not argue on the plea for Preliminary Injunction because the Office of the Solicitor General could not reconcile the confusing data in the records.

Finding that the data before it were, in fact, confusing, inconsistent and inaccurate, this Court, in its Resolution of June 13, 1985, stated in part: "For a just resolution of the instant controversy, therefore, particularly in the absence of sufficient and reliable evidence to support the finding of excess voting in Voting Center 1, the inaccuracies in the Citizens Election Committee reports, and the COMELEC's erroneous assumption that "registered" voters are synonymous with those who "actually, voted," in addition to QUIMLAT's allegation that the documents CALIMBAS presented to this Court are spurious there is imperative need to determine definitively and conclusively the accurate number of registered voters in Voting Center No. 1.

The data may be obtained from the Certified List of Registered Voters, . . .

which should be in COMELEC custody. The List of Registered voters as of January 30, 1980 in Voting Center No. 1 of Barangay Mabayo, Morong, Bataan, was submitted by the COMELEC, through the Solicitor General, in its Compliance of July 29, 1985, with the manifestation that "the list was handcarried by the Election Registrar of Morong, Bataan to the COMELEC, Manila, on Wednesday, July 17, 1985 at 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon, pursuant to a telegram sent by COMELEC." A careful scrutiny of all the documents required to be submitted constrains us to conclude that the COMELEC gravely abused its discretion in holding that there was excess voting in Voting Center No. 1.

The COMELEC computation was as follows: Total votes cast "after physical count" (per Summary of the Court Commissioners' Report) Calimbas 205 votes Quimlat 50 " Escolango 89 "

"Stray" 36 "