THE Commission on Elections, meeting en banc, has junked the motion for reconsideration filed by Congressman Vicente “Bingbong” Crisologo seeking the disqualification of Vivienne Tan as an independent congressional candidate in Quezon City’s first district.
All seven commissioners concurred that “Tan possesses all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications as candidate for Member of the House of Representative for the First District of Quezon City.”
In a statement to media, Tan, daughter of taipan Lucio Tan, thanked the Comelec for “upholding the spirit of the law.”
“Mr. Crisologo knows that his appeal to disqualify me as a candidate has no legal basis. But he relentlessly filed appeal after appeal, using this to spread rumors of my disqualification and discourage voters from choosing me to be their representative,” she said.
The lawyers of Tan, meanwhile, said the order of Court of Appeals to delist Tan as a qualified voter in her district is null and void and without legal force and effect.
Arno Sanidad, chief legal counsel for Tan, invoked the Rules of Court saying, “The jurisdiction over petitions for certiorari of decisions of the Metropolitan Trial Court and the Regional Trial Court is lodged exclusively with the Commission on Elections, and not the Court of Appeals.”
The lawyers said Crisologo’s petition for certiorari should have been dismissed outright because the Court of Appeals has no jurisdiction over elections matters which is lodged exclusively to the Comelec.
“Vivienne Tan, therefore, remains to be a voter and candidate for the House of Representatives,” they said.