BENJAMIN T. LOONG, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, NURHUSSEIN UTUTALUM and ALIM BASHIR EDRIS, respondents. [G.R. No.

93986. December 22, 1992.] PADILLA, J p: FACTS: Petitioner Loong filed his certificate of candidacy on 15 January 1990 (the last day for filing the same), the election for officials of the Muslim Mindanao Autonomous Region being on 17 February 1990; but private respondent Ututalum filed the petition (SPA 90-006) to disqualify candidate Loong only on 5 March 1990, or forty-nine (49) days from the date Loong's certificate of candidacy was filed (i.e. 15 January 1990), and sixteen (16) days after the election itself. Petitioner Loong contends that SPA No. 90-006 was filed out of time because it was filed beyond the 25-day period prescribed by Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code. On the other hand, private respondent Ututalum alleges that SPA No. 90-006, though filed only on 5 March 1990, was filed when no proclamation of winner had as yet been made and that the petition is deemed filed on time as Section 3, Rule 25 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure states that the petition to disqualify a candidate on grounds of ineligibility "shall be filed any day after the last day for filing of certificates of candidacy but not later than the date of proclamation." On the part of respondent Commission, it held in its assailed resolution that the petition in SPA No. 90-006 was timely filed, applying Sections 6 and 7 of Republic Act No. 6646, and Section 2, Rule 23 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure which states that the petition to deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy must be filed within five (5) days following the last day for the filing of a certificate of candidacy, both read in the light of the Frivaldo ruling of this Court. ISSUE: Whether or not SPA No. 90-006 (a petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy of petitioner Loong) was filed within the period prescribed by law. HELD: No. Sections 3 and 4 of Rep. Act No. 6734 (entitled, "An act providing for an organic act for the autonomous region in Muslin Mindanao") requires that the age of a person running for the office of Vice Governor for the autonomous region shall be at least thirty-five (35) years on the day of the election. Private respondent Ututalum alleges that petitioner Loong falls short of this age requirement, hence, on 5 March 1990, he filed a petition to disqualify the petitioner. Section 74 of the Omnibus Election Code provides that the certificate of candidacy of the person filing it shall state, among others, the date of birth of said

person. Section 78 of the same Code states that in case a person filing a certificate of candidacy has committed false representation, a petition to cancel the certificate of the aforesaid person may be filed within twenty-five (25) days from the time the certificate was filed. Clearly, SPA No. 90-006 was filed beyond the 25-day period prescribed by Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code. Rule 25 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure refers to Disqualification of Candidates; and Section 1 of said rule provides that any candidate who commits any act declared by law to be a ground for disqualification may be disqualified from continuing as a candidate. The petition filed by private respondent Ututalum with the respondent Comelec to disqualify petitioner Loong on the ground that the latter made a false representation in his certificate of candidacy as to his age, clearly does not fall under the grounds of disqualification as provided for in Rule 25 but is expressly covered by Rule 23 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure governing petitions to cancel certificate of candidacy. Moreover, Section 3, Rule 25 which allows the filing of the petition at any time after the last day for the filing of certificates of candidacy but not later than the date of proclamation, is merely a procedural rule issued by respondent Commission which, although a constitutional body, has no legislative powers. Thus, it can not supersede Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code which is a legislative enactment. Nowhere in Sections 6 and 7 of Rep. Act. No. 6646 is mention made of the period within which these disqualification cases may be filed. This is because there are provisions in the Code which supply the periods within which a petition relating to disqualification of candidates must be filed, such as Section 78, already discussed, and Section 253 on petitions for quo warranto. Thus, if a person qualified to file a petition to disqualify a certain candidate fails to file the petition within the 25-day period prescribed by Section 78 of the Code for whatever reasons, the election laws do not leave him completely helpless as he has another chance to raise the disqualification of the candidate by filing a petition for quo warranto within ten (10) days from the proclamation of the results of the election, as provided under Section 253 of the Code. We are aware that in Frivaldo vs. Comelec, this Court held that a petition to disqualify an elective official, on the ground that he is not a Filipino citizen, may be filed at anytime, even beyond the period prescribed by law, and even if he had already been proclaimed elected to the office and in fact had long been discharging the duties of said office. But we disagree with respondent Commission that the Frivaldo ruling applies to the case at bar in all its connotations and implications. For one, the ground for which disqualification is sought in the present case is misrepresentation as to the required age of the candidate, whereas, in Frivaldo the ground for disqualification was lack of Philippine citizenship. This is an overriding and fundamental desideratum matched perhaps only by disloyalty to the Republic of the Philippines.

The Court held that the disqualification petition was correctly treated by the Commission on Elections as a petition to cancel a defective certificate of candidacy but the petition was filed out of time and could not anymore be entertained. In sum, SPA No. 90-006 was filed by private respondent Ututalum beyond the 25-day period (from the filing by petitioner Loong of the questioned certificate of candidacy prescribed by Section 78 of the Code. It follows that the dismissal of said petition for disqualification is warranted. Further it would appear that we can not treat SPA No. 90-006 as a petition for quo warranto (Section 253 of the Code) for when it was filed with the respondent Commission, no proclamation of election results had as yet been made, hence, it was premature.

JUAN G. FRIVALDO, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, and RAUL R. LEE, respondents. [G.R. No. 120295. June 28, 1996.] PANGANIBAN, J p: FACTS: Juan G. Frivaldo filed his Certificate of Candidacy for the office of Governor of Sorsogon in the May 8, 1995 elections. Raul R. Lee, another candidate, filed a petition with the Comelec docketed as SPA No. 95-028 praying that Frivaldo "be disqualified from seeking or holding any public office or position by reason of not yet being a citizen of the Philippines", and that his Certificate of Candidacy be cancelled. The Second Division of the Comelec granted the petition. The Motion for Reconsideration filed by Frivaldo remained unacted upon until after the May 8, 1995 elections. So, his candidacy continued and he was voted for during the elections held on said date. On May 11, 1995, the Comelec en banc affirmed the aforementioned Resolution of the Second Division. Frivaldo won the position of Governor of Sorsogon. Lee filed in said SPA No. 95-028, a (supplemental) petition praying for his proclamation as the duly-elected Governor of Sorsogon. The Comelec en banc directed "the Provincial Board of Canvassers of Sorsogon to reconvene for the purpose of proclaiming candidate Raul Lee as the winning gubernatorial candidate in the province of Sorsogon on June 29, 1995 . . ." Accordingly, at 8:30 in the evening of June 30, 1995, Lee was proclaimed governor of Sorsogon. Frivaldo prayed for the annulment of the June 30, 1995 proclamation of Lee and for his own proclamation. He alleged that on June 30, 1995, at 2:00 in the afternoon, he took his oath of allegiance as a citizen of the Philippines after "his petition for repatriation under P.D. 725 which he filed with the Special Committee on Naturalization in September 1994 had been granted". As such, when "the said order (dated June 21, 1995) (of the Comelec) . . . was released and received by Frivaldo on June 30, 1995 at 5:30 o'clock in the evening, there was no more legal impediment to the proclamation (of Frivaldo) as governor . . ." ISSUE: Whether or not Frivaldo can be proclaimed as the Governor of Sorsogon. HELD: Yes. On the basis of the parties' submissions, we are convinced that the presumption of regularity in the performance of official duty and the presumption of legality in the repatriation of Frivaldo have not been successfully rebutted by Lee. Lee contends that assuming the assailed repatriation to be valid, nevertheless it could only be effective as at 2:00 p.m. of June 30, 1995 whereas

the citizenship qualification prescribed by the Local Government Code "must exist on the date of his election, if not when the certificate of candidacy is filed," citing our decision in G.R. 104654 which held that "both the Local Government Code and the Constitution require that only Philippine citizens can run and be elected to Public office." Obviously, however, this was a mere obiter as the only issue in said case was whether Frivaldo's naturalization was valid or not and NOT the effective date thereof. Since the Court held his naturalization to be invalid, then the issue of when an aspirant for public office should be a citizen was NOT resolved at all by the Court. Which question we shall now directly rule on. It will be noted that the law does not specify any particular date or time when the candidate must possess citizenship, unlike that for residence (which must consist of at least one year's residency immediately preceding the day of election) and age (at least twenty three years of age on election day). Philippine citizenship is an indispensable requirement for holding an elective public office, 31 and the purpose of the citizenship qualification is none other than to ensure that no alien, i.e., no person owing allegiance to another nation, shall govern our people and our country or a unit of territory thereof. Now, an official begins to govern or to discharge his functions only upon his proclamation and on the day the law mandates his term of office to begin. Since Frivaldo re-assumed his citizenship on June 30, 1995 the very day the term of office of governor (and other elective officials) began he was therefore already qualified to be proclaimed, to hold such office and to discharge the functions and responsibilities thereof as of said date. In short, at that time, he was already qualified to govern his native Sorsogon. This is the liberal interpretation that should give spirit, life and meaning to our law on qualifications consistent with the purpose for which such law was enacted. So too, even from a literal (as distinguished from liberal) construction, it should be noted that Section 39 of the Local Government Code speaks of "Qualifications" of "ELECTIVE OFFICIALS", not of candidates. Why then should such qualification be required at the time of election or at the time of the filing of the certificates of candidacies, as Lee insists? Literally, such qualifications unless otherwise expressly conditioned, as in the case of age and residence should thus be possessed when the "elective [or elected] official" begins to govern, i.e., at the time he is proclaimed and at the start of his term in this case, on June 30, 1995. If the purpose of the citizenship requirement is to ensure that our people and country do not end up being governed by aliens, i.e., persons owing allegiance to another nation, that aim or purpose would not be thwarted but instead achieved by construing the citizenship qualification as applying to the time of proclamation of the elected official and at the start of his term. But perhaps the more difficult objection was the one raised during the oral argument to the effect that the citizenship qualification should be possessed at the time the candidate (or for that matter the elected official) registered as a voter. After all, Section 39, apart from requiring the official to be a citizen, also specifies as another item of qualification, that he be a "registered voter". And,

under the law 35 a "voter" must be a citizen of the Philippines. So therefore, Frivaldo could not have been a voter much less a validly registered one if he was not a citizen at the time of such registration. The answer to this problem again lies in discerning the purpose of the requirement. If the law intended the citizenship qualification to be possessed prior to election consistent with the requirement of being a registered voter, then it would not have made citizenship a SEPARATE qualification. The law abhors a redundancy. It therefore stands to reason that the law intended CITIZENSHIP to be a qualification distinct from being a VOTER, even if being a voter presumes being a citizen first. It also stands to reason that the voter requirement was included as another qualification (aside from "citizenship"), not to reiterate the need for nationality but to require that the official be registered as a voter IN THE AREA OR TERRITORY he seeks to govern, i.e., the law states: "a registered voter in the barangay, municipality, city, or province . . . where he intends to be elected." It should be emphasized that the Local Government Code requires an elective official to be a registered voter. It does not require him to vote actually. Hence, registration not the actual voting is the core of this "qualification". In other words, the law's purpose in this second requirement is to ensure that the prospective official is actually registered in the area he seeks to govern and not anywhere else. Before this Court, Frivaldo has repeatedly emphasized and Lee has not disputed that he "was and is a registered voter of Sorsogon, and his registration as a voter has been sustained as valid by judicial declaration . . . In fact, he cast his vote in his precinct on May 8, 1995." So too, during the oral argument, his counsel stead- fastly maintained that "Mr. Frivaldo has always been a registered voter of Sorsogon. He has voted in 1987, 1988, 1992, then he voted again in 1995. In fact, his eligibility as a voter was questioned, but the court dismissed (sic) his eligibility as a voter and he was allowed to vote as in fact, he voted in all the previous elections including on May 8, 1995. It is thus clear that Frivaldo is a registered voter in the province where he intended to be elected. There is yet another reason why the prime issue of citizenship should be reckoned from the date of proclamation, not necessarily the date of election or date of filing of the certificate of candidacy. Section 253 of the Omnibus Election Code gives any voter, presumably including the defeated candidate, the opportunity to question the ELIGIBILITY (or the disloyalty) of a candidate. This is the only provision of the Code that authorizes a remedy on how to contest before the Comelec an incumbent's ineligibility arising from failure to meet the qualifications enumerated under Sec. 39 of the Local Government Code. Such remedy of Quo Warranto can be availed of "within ten days after proclamation" of the winning candidate. Hence, it is only at such time that the issue of ineligibility may be taken cognizance of by the Commission. And since, at the very moment of Lee's proclamation (8:30 p.m., June 30, 1995), Juan G. Frivaldo was already

and indubitably a citizen, having taken his oath of allegiance earlier in the afternoon of the same day, then he should have been the candidate proclaimed as he unquestionably garnered the highest number of votes in the immediately preceding elections and such oath had already cured his previous "judiciallydeclared" alienage. Hence, at such time, he was no longer ineligible. But to remove all doubts on this important issue, we also hold that the repatriation of Frivaldo RETROACTED to the date of the filing of his application on August 17, 1994.

PABLO C. VILLABER, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and REP. DOUGLAS R. CAGAS, respondents. [G.R. No. 148326. November 15, 2001.] SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J p: FACTS: Both petitioner Villaber and respondent Douglas R. Cagas were rival candidates for a congressional seat in the First District of Davao del Sur during the May 14, 2001 elections. On March 4, 2001, Cagas filed with the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor, Commission On Elections (COMELEC), Davao del Sur, a consolidated petition to disqualify Villaber and to cancel the latter's certificate of candidacy. Cagas alleged in the said consolidated petition that on March 2, 1990, Villaber was convicted for violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 and was sentenced to suffer one (1) year imprisonment. The check that bounced was in the sum of P100,000.00. Cagas further alleged that this crime involves moral turpitude; hence, under Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code, he is disqualified to run for any public office. On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the RTC Decision. Undaunted, Villaber filed with this Court a petition for review on certiorari assailing the Court of Appeals Decision. However, in its Resolution, this Court dismissed the petition. On February 2, 1993, our Resolution became final and executory. Cagas also asserted that Villaber made a false material representation in his certificate of candidacy that he is "Eligible for the office I seek to be elected" which false statement is a ground to deny due course or cancel the said certificate pursuant to Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code. In his answer to the disqualification suit, Villaber countered mainly that his conviction has not become final and executory because the affirmed Decision was not remanded to the trial court for promulgation in his presence. Furthermore, even if the judgment of conviction was already final and executory, it cannot be the basis for his disqualification since violation of B.P. Blg. 22 does not involve moral turpitude. ISSUE: Whether or not violation of B.P. Blg. 22 involves moral turpitude. HELD: Yes. The COMELEC believes it is. In disqualifying petitioner Villaber from being a candidate for Congressman, the COMELEC applied Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code. We reiterate here our ruling in Dela Torre that the determination of whether a crime involves moral turpitude is a question of fact and frequently depends on all the circumstances surrounding the violation of the statute. In the case at bar, petitioner does not assail the facts and circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime. In effect, he admits all the elements of

the crime for which he was convicted. At any rate, the question of whether or not the crime involves moral turpitude can be resolved by analyzing its elements alone, as we did in Dela Torre which involves the crime of fencing punishable by a special law. The elements of the offense of B.P. 22 are: 1.The accused makes, draws or issues any check to apply to account or for value; 2.The accused knows at the time of the issuance that he or she does not have sufficient funds in, or credit with, the drawee bank for the payment of the check in full upon its presentment; and 3.The check is subsequently dishonored by the drawee bank for insufficiency of funds or credit, or it would have been dishonored for the same reason had not the drawer, without any valid reason, ordered the bank to stop payment. The presence of the second element manifests moral turpitude. In People vs. Atty. Fe Tuanda we held that a conviction for violation of B.P. Blg. 22 "imports deceit" and "certainly relates to and affects the good moral character of a person. . . . " The effects of the issuance of a worthless check, as we held in the landmark case of Lozano vs. Martinez, through Justice Pedro L. Yap, "transcends the private interests of the parties directly involved in the transaction and touches the interests of the community at large. The mischief it creates is not only a wrong to the payee or holder, but also an injury to the public" since the circulation of valueless commercial papers "can very well pollute the channels of trade and commerce, injure the banking system and eventually hurt the welfare of society and the public interest." Thus, paraphrasing Black's definition, a drawer who issues an unfunded check deliberately reneges on his private duties he owes his fellow men or society in a manner contrary to accepted and customary rule of right and duty, justice, honesty or good morals.