Comelec disqualifies Legazpi mayor Rosal, orders proclamation of Garbin

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has ruled to disqualify Carmen Geraldine Rosal as mayoral candidate of Legazpi City in the 2022 national and local elections and to proclaim second-placer Alfredo Garbin Jr. as duly-elected city mayor.

In the Comelec en banc resolution promulgated May 4, the poll body said Rosal should be disqualified as candidate for mayor of Legazpi City, Albay for “giving money to influence, induce, or corrupt voters,” a violation stated under Section 68(a) of the Omnibus Election Code.

The case stemmed from a Facebook post on March 31, 2022 about a 2-day Tricycle Driver’s Cash Assistance Payout. The said post thanked Rosal for the activity and tagged her as “Mayor Gie Rosal” even if she was not an incumbent mayor at the time.

“[T]he Facebook Post notably referred to her as Mayor Gie Rosal, in apparent reference to the position she was vying for at the time: Mayor of Legazpi City, Albay. There can be no other reasonable inference from this Facebook post than that herein Respondent (Rosal) gave the cash assistance to the tricycle drivers in order to influence them to support her candidacy for Mayor,” the resolution read.

The en banc also took note of Rosal’s indirect admission of her participation in the said activity even if the petition to disqualify her stemmed from it.

“It bears stressing that the Petition was anchored on Respondent’s presence in the Cash Assistance Pay-out. Surprisingly however, instead of vehemently denying her participation in the said activity, herein Respondent instead attempted to justify the holding of such event within the prohibited period by arguing that they reported it to the Commission on Audit,” the en banc said.

“Quite clearly, based on the representations of Respondent, she is not intent on disclaiming her supposed presence in the subject activity. Hence, We are inclined to believe that Respondent was indeed present in the said event in order to promote her candidacy for Mayor to the tricycle drivers,” the resolution read.

Further, the en banc said the intention to induce voters to vote for Rosal “became more manifest” with the display of election paraphernalia during the said event, including the participants and the then-mayoral candidate’s wearing of campaign T-shirts and hats.

“Clearly, this fact only bolsters the theory that the Cash Assistance Payout was designed to induce the tricycle drivers to vote in favor of herein Respondent in the coming polls,” the resolution read.

In ordering the proclamation of Garbin as the duly-elected mayor of Legazpi City, the Comelec en banc cited the Supreme Court decision on Maquiling v. Commission on Elections which stated that “[I]n the event the latter disqualified, the voter cast for him should be considered stray and the second-placer should be proclaimed as the winner in the elections.”

Further, the Comelec en banc ordered the case to be forwarded to the Law Department of the poll body for the possible institution of an election offense case against Rosal.

GMA News Online reached out to Rosal for comment but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time.

In a Viber message to reporters, Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudinagco said the decision will be final and executory on May 9 or five days from the promulgation of the resolution unless there is a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.

“Absent a TRO, on May 10, final and executory po na po ang Resolution, where it was likewise ordered that until May 20, the Special City Board of Canvassers of Legazpi po will convene to proclaim Alfredo Garbin Jr as the winning candidate for Mayor,” Laudiangco said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News