G.R. No. L-54718 December 4, 1985
CRISOLOGO VILLANUEVA Y PARDES, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, MUNICIPAL BOARD OF CANVASSERS OF DOLORES, QUEZON, VIVENCIO G. LIRIO, respondents.

FACTS

Narciso Mendoza, Jr. filed his certificate of candidacy for Vice-Mayor of Dolores, Quezon, on January 4, 1980, the last day for filing. Later that same day, Mendoza submitted an unsworn handwritten letter withdrawing his candidacy. Subsequently, on January 25, 1980, petitioner Crisologo Villanueva filed a sworn certificate of candidacy in substitution of Mendoza. In the January 30, 1980 election, Villanueva received 3,112 votes against respondent Vivencio Lirio’s 2,660 votes. However, the Municipal Board of Canvassers, acting on an opinion from the Provincial Election Officer, disregarded all votes for Villanueva as stray votes because his name did not appear on the Comelec’s certified list of candidates. The board then proclaimed Lirio as the elected Vice-Mayor.

ISSUE

Whether the Commission on Elections correctly denied due course to Villanueva’s substitute candidacy based on the technical grounds that Mendoza’s withdrawal was unsworn and was made on the same day as the filing of his certificate of candidacy.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the motion for reconsideration, set aside its prior decision, and ruled in favor of Villanueva. The Court held that the will of the electorate must prevail over formal or technical defects. On the first ground, Mendoza’s unsworn withdrawal, while a deviation from the mandatory requirement of Section 27 of the 1978 Election Code, was considered a harmless irregularity. The withdrawal was an undeniable fact, accepted by the election registrar without objection, and no votes were cast for Mendoza. Citing precedent, the Court ruled that after the people have voted, an election result cannot be defeated by a candidate’s failure to swear to a certificate or withdrawal.
On the second ground, that the withdrawal occurred on the last day for filing rather than after it, the Court found this distinction without a meaningful difference in this context. Mendoza’s act of withdrawing on the same day demonstrated he was never a serious candidate, creating a vacancy that a substitute could validly fill. The purpose of the substitution law was served. The technical interpretation by the Comelec would frustrate the clear expression of the popular will, where Villanueva obtained a decisive majority. The Court emphasized that legal provisions should be construed liberally to give effect to the sovereign will, not to defeat it through overly rigid technicalities. Consequently, the proclamation of Lirio was annulled.