Comelec cancels candidacy for re-election of Camarines Norte governor

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division has cancelled the certificate of candidacy of Camarines Norte govenor Edgardo Tallado after he was found to be running for a fourth consecutive three-year term in violation of the Constitution.

The Comelec granted the petition for Tallado's disqualification saying that the pendency of Tallado's Petition for Review before the Court of Appeals on his suspension order meted by the Ombudsman meant that he did not vacate the office of Camarines Norte governor.

Tallado was also not succeeded by his vice governor at that time.

“If it was truly vacant, such permanent vacancy should have triggered the operation of Section 44 of LGC (Local Government Code) which governs succession in cases involving permanent vacancies in elective offices," the Comelec ruled.

"The Vice Governor should have succeeded and assumed the office of the governor the moment the respondent [Tallado] was handed the copy of the Ombudsman's decision [of his suspension],” it added.

“No succession ever took place. There was no break in the respondent's term. Clearly, the respondent's suspension is not to be considered an involuntary interruption of respondent's continuity of service. Whereby premises considered, the petitions are hereby granted," the Comelec said.

"The COC filed by Tallada is cancelled,” it added.

The Comelec First Division's decision on the Tallado case was confirmed by Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon to GMA News Online.

The suspension order against Tallado issued by the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon in February 2018 stemmed from complaints of grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct complaint filed by former provincial veterinarian Edgardo Gonzales.

The Ombudsman meted the suspension on Tallado in February 2018 for defying a 2015 suspension also issued against him by the Department of Interior and Local Government in connection with the same case. —Llanesca T. Panti/NB, GMA News