Comelec disqualifies Tarlac City mayor over residency issues

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has disqualified Tarlac City Mayor Susan Yap-Sulit in the 2025 May elections and declared her ineligible to serve public office after she allegedly failed to meet the mandatory one-year residency requirement.

The en banc also said the mayor failed to establish that she is a resident of Barangay Tibag as prescribed under the Local Government Code and annulled her proclamation.

“Wherefore, premises considered, the Comelec en banc resolved, as it hereby resolves, to grant the motion for reconsideration filed by Amado de Leon and Jay-Ar Navarro dated April 21, 2025. The resolution of the Commission Second Division dated April 14, 2025 is hereby reversed and set aside,” the ruling read. 

“Consequently, Susan Areno Yap-Sulit is ineligible to be elected as Mayor of Tarlac City. Hence, her proclamation is hereby annulled,” it said. 

The rule of succession will apply should the decision become final and executory, the poll body added. 

Yap-Sulit, for her part, said she will exhaust all legal remedies against the Comelec decision. 

“A technicality once dismissed cannot erase a mandate freely given. Tarlac City is my home, my life, and my heart. Respect and uphold the people’s vote,” she said. —RF, GMA Integrated News