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Lonzanida Vs Comelec Digest PDF

1) Petitioner Lonzanida served two terms as mayor of San Antonio, Zambales prior to the 1995 elections. He was proclaimed winner in 1995 but this was later contested and the COMELEC declared his opponent the winner. 2) The issue is whether Lonzanida's assumption of office from 1995-1998, even though he was later unseated, should count as one term for the purposes of the three-term limit. 3) The Supreme Court ruled that Lonzanida could not be considered duly elected in 1995 and he did not fully serve the 1995-1998 term as he was ordered to vacate his post before the end of the term, so his time in

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Lonzanida Vs Comelec Digest PDF

1) Petitioner Lonzanida served two terms as mayor of San Antonio, Zambales prior to the 1995 elections. He was proclaimed winner in 1995 but this was later contested and the COMELEC declared his opponent the winner. 2) The issue is whether Lonzanida's assumption of office from 1995-1998, even though he was later unseated, should count as one term for the purposes of the three-term limit. 3) The Supreme Court ruled that Lonzanida could not be considered duly elected in 1995 and he did not fully serve the 1995-1998 term as he was ordered to vacate his post before the end of the term, so his time in

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Sam Maulana
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© © All Rights Reserved
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LONZANIDA vs.

COMELEC
G.R. No. 135150. July 28, 1999

FACTS:

Petitioner Romeo Lonzanida was duly elected and served two consecutive terms as municipal
mayor of San Antonio, Zambales prior to the May 8, 1995 elections. In the May 1995 elections Lonzanida ran
for mayor of San Antonio, Zambales and was again proclaimed winner. He assumed office and discharged the
duties thereof. His proclamation in 1995 was however contested by his then opponent Juan Alvez who filed an
election protest before the Regional Trial Court of Zambales, which in a decision dated January 9, 1997
declared a failure of elections.

Both parties appealed to the COMELEC. On November 13, 1997 the COMELEC resolved the
election protest filed by Alvez and after a revision and re-appreciation of the contested ballots declared Alvez
the duly elected mayor of San Antonio, Zambales by plurality of votes cast in his favor totaling 1,720 votes as
against 1,488 votes for Lonzanida. On February 27, 1998 the COMELEC issued a writ of execution ordering
Lonzanida to vacate the post, which obeyed, and Alvez assumed office for the remainder of the term.

In the May 11, 1998 elections Lonzanida again filed his certificate of candidacy for mayor of
San Antonio but his opponent, Eufemio Muli, timely filed a petition to disqualify Lonzanida from running for
mayor of San Antonio in the 1998 elections on the ground that he had served three consecutive terms in the
same post. On May 13, 1998, petitioner Lonzanida was proclaimed winner. However, the COMELEC found
that Lonzanida’s assumption of office by virtue of his proclamation in May 1995, although he was later
unseated before the expiration of the term, should be counted as service for one full term in computing the three
term limit under the Constitution and the Local Government Code.

ISSUE:

Whether or not petitioner Lonzanida’s assumption of office as mayor of San Antonio Zambales
from May 1995 to March 1998 may be considered as service of one full term for the purpose of applying the
three-term limit for elective local government officials.

RULING:

The Supreme Court has held that two conditions for the application of the disqualification must
concur: 1) that the official concerned has been elected for three consecutive terms in the same local government
post and 2) that he has fully served three consecutive terms.

In the case at bar, the two requisites for the application of the three term rule are absent. First,
the petitioner cannot be considered as having been duly elected to the post in the May 1995 elections, and
second, the petitioner did not fully serve the 1995-1998 mayoral term by reason of involuntary relinquishment
of office. After a re-appreciation and revision of the contested ballots the COMELEC itself declared by final

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judgment that petitioner Lonzanida lost in the May 1995 mayoral elections and his previous proclamation as
winner was declared null and void. His assumption of office as mayor cannot be deemed to have been by
reason of a valid election but by reason of a void proclamation. It has been repeatedly held that a proclamation
subsequently declared void is no proclamation at all and while a proclaimed candidate may assume office on the
strength of the proclamation of the Board of Canvassers he is only a presumptive winner who assumes office
subject to the final outcome of the election protest. Petitioner Lonzanida did not serve a term as mayor of San
Antonio, Zambales from May 1995 to March 1998 because he was not duly elected to the post; he merely
assumed office as presumptive winner, which presumption was later overturned by the COMELEC when it
decided with finality that Lonzanida lost in the May 1995 mayoral elections.

Second, the petitioner cannot be deemed to have served the May 1995 to 1998 term because he
was ordered to vacate his post before the expiration of the term. The respondents’ contention that the petitioner
should be deemed to have served one full term from May 1995-1998 because he served the greater portion of
that term has no legal basis to support it; it disregards the second requisite for the application of the
disqualification, i.e., that he has fully served three consecutive terms. The second sentence of the constitutional
provision under scrutiny states, “Voluntary renunciation of office for any length of time shall not be considered
as an interruption in the continuity of service for the full term for which he was elected. “The clear intent of the
framers of the constitution to bar any attempt to circumvent the three-term limit by a voluntary renunciation of
office and at the same time respect the people’s choice and grant their elected official full service of a term is
evident in this provision. Voluntary renunciation of a term does not cancel the renounced term in the
computation of the three term limit; conversely, involuntary severance from office for any length of time short
of the full term porvided by law amounts to an interruption of continuity of service. The petitioner vacated his
post a few months before the next mayoral elections, not by voluntary renunciation but in compliance with the
legal process of writ of execution issued by the COMELEC to that effect. Such involuntary severance from
office is an interruption of continuity of service and thus, the petitioner did not fully serve the 1995-1998
mayoral term.

In sum, the petitioner was not the duly elected mayor and that he did not hold office for the full term; hence, his
assumption of office from May 1995 to March 1998 cannot be counted as a term for purposes of computing the
three term limit. The Resolution of the COMELEC finding him disqualified on this ground to run in the May
1998 mayoral elections should therefore be set aside.

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