SC junks Villafuerte plea vs grandson-governor

The Supreme Court has ruled with finality to deny a plea by former Camarines Sur Gov. and former Rep. Luis Villafuerte contesting the victory of his 25-year-old grandson and incumbent Gov. Miguel Luis Villafuerte.

 

In a two-page resolution, the high court unked the motion for reconsideration filed by the elder Villafuerte that sought to reverse the high tribunal's Feb. 25, 2014 ruling upholding a Comelec ruling favoring his grandson.

 

"We find the same to be a rehash of the arguments advanced by petitioner in their petition which we have already considered and passed upon in our decision," said the high court.

 

The elder Villafuerte had sought the cancellation of his grandson's certificate of candidacy (COC) for allegedly "intentionally and materially misrepresenting a false and deceptive name/nickname" during the 2013 elections.

 

The grandfather said Miguel tried to "mislead" voters when he declared under oath in his COC that "L-Ray Jr-Migz" was his nickname, and that the name he wanted to appear on the official ballot was "Villafuerte, L-Ray Jr.-Migz NP."

 

Luis said his grandson deliberately omitted his first name "Miguel" and inserted, instead "L-Ray Jr," which is the nickname of Miguel's father, the then incumbent Governor L-Ray Villafuerte Jr.

 

The Comelec First Division in a January 15, 2013 resolution, however, denied Luis' petition, saying: "the misrepresentation of a non-material fact is no a ground to deny due course to or cancel a (COC) under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code."

 

The Comelec division said misrepresentation would only become material when it refers to a qualification for elective office and affects the candidate's eligibility.

 

"We made such finding in the context of our ruling that there was no showing that respondent had the intention to mislead or misinform or hide a fact with the use of such nickname so as to deny due course or cancel his COC. As we found in our decision, respondent's use of the nickname 'LRAY JR. MIGZ' is not a qualification for a public office which affects his eligibility," read the Comelec resolution.

 

The Comelec en banc, in an April 1, 2013 ruling, affirmed its division's decision, prompting Luis to elevate the case to the Supreme Court.

 

The grandfather and grandson battled it out during the May 2013 election. The younger Villafuerte ended up beating his grandfather when he got 263,792 votes while his grandfather got 200,086 votes. — RSJ, GMA News