G.R. No. 30173, December 14, 1928
PEDRO SALDAÑA, petitioner-appellant, vs. CRISPULO CONSUNJI, ET AL., respondents-appellees.

FACTS

Petitioner Pedro Saldaña filed an election protest on June 18, 1928, contesting the results of the municipal election for president of Samal, Bataan, held on June 5, 1928, where protestee Crispulo Consunji obtained more votes. The protest alleged various irregularities but failed to state that there had been a proclamation of an elected candidate. The protestee moved to dismiss the protest on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction due to this omission. The protestant subsequently moved to amend his protest to include an allegation that the municipal board of canvassers proclaimed the protestee elected on June 6, 1928. The trial court denied the motion to amend and dismissed the protest.

ISSUE

Whether the Court of First Instance acquired jurisdiction over the election protest despite the protest’s failure to allege the fact of proclamation, and whether the protestant could amend his protest to cure this jurisdictional defect after the statutory period for filing a protest had lapsed.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of the protest. The Court held that the allegation of a proclamation is an essential, jurisdictional fact that must appear in the election protest itself. Under Section 479 of the Administrative Code (as amended), an election protest must be filed within two weeks *after the proclamation*. The existence of a proclamation is indispensable not only to identify the legally elected candidate being contested but also to determine when the two-week period for filing begins to run. Since the original protest was fatally defective for lacking this allegation, the trial court did not acquire jurisdiction. An amendment to supply this missing jurisdictional fact, filed after the two-week period from proclamation (36 days after, according to the proposed amendment), could not confer jurisdiction retroactively. The time limit for filing an election protest is mandatory and jurisdictional.