G.R. No. L-61586 May 30, 1983
ISIDRO MILLARE, petitioner, vs. HON. LEOPOLDO B. GIRONELLA, Judge of the Court of First Instance of Abra, HON. ADRIANO BERNARDINO, Acting Municipal Circuit Judge of Tayum, Abra, and ALFREDO ELVEÑA, respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Isidro Millare and private respondent Alfredo Elveña were candidates for Barangay Captain of Budac, Tayum, Abra, in the May 17, 1982 election. On May 10, 1982, Elveña filed a petition to disqualify Millare for alleged failure to meet the six-month residency requirement under Batas Pambansa Blg. 222. The Municipal Circuit Court, after a hearing where Millare did not appear, issued an order disqualifying him. Millare’s motion for reconsideration was denied on May 16, 1982. Despite the disqualification order, Millare ran and garnered more votes, but these were declared stray, leading to Elveña’s proclamation.
Millare did not appeal the disqualification order. Instead, on May 20, 1982, he filed an election protest (Election Protest No. 49) seeking annulment of Elveña’s proclamation and a declaration of his own victory. The Municipal Circuit Judge dismissed the protest, ruling it could not serve as an appeal of the final disqualification order. The Court of First Instance affirmed this dismissal. Millare then filed this petition to nullify the lower courts’ orders and remand the election protest for trial.

ISSUE

Whether the filing of an election protest is a proper remedy for a candidate disqualified by a final order, or whether appeal of the disqualification order is the exclusive remedy.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition, annulling the assailed orders and remanding the cases for consolidated trial. The Court held that while the respondents’ position that the disqualification order became final due to non-appeal was technically correct under a strict reading of procedural rules, such technicality should not override substantive justice and the sovereign will of the electorate. The governing law, Batas Pambansa Blg. 222, applied the 1978 Election Code and the Revised Barangay Chapter suppletorily. The provision stating that “all disputes over barangay elections” shall be brought before the municipal court, with decisions appealable under the Rules of Court, encompasses disqualification cases.
However, the Court emphasized that election laws should be liberally construed to give effect to the people’s will. Millare’s filing of the election protest within the appeal period could be considered as invoking the right to appeal. More importantly, he was never afforded a real opportunity to present evidence on his residency, as he was absent from the initial disqualification hearing and later barred from testifying in the protest. The paramount consideration is to ventilate the factual issue of his qualification, which was buried in procedural technicalities. The two cases (the disqualification case and the election protest) were ordered consolidated and remanded for trial, allowing Millare to present evidence and for a recanvassing of ballots.