G.R. No. 135869 September 22, 1999
RUSTICO H. ANTONIO, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and VICENTE T. MIRANDA, JR., respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Rustico Antonio and private respondent Vicente T. Miranda, Jr. were rival candidates for Punong Barangay of Barangay Ilaya, Las Piñas City. After Antonio was proclaimed, Miranda filed an election protest before the Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) of Las Piñas City. The MTC rendered a decision on March 9, 1998, declaring Miranda as the duly elected Barangay Chairman. Antonio received a copy of this decision on March 18, 1998. On March 27, 1998, nine days after receipt, Antonio filed a Notice of Appeal with the trial court. The COMELEC Second Division, in an Order dated August 3, 1998, dismissed Antonio’s appeal for having been filed out of time, applying Section 21, Rule 35 of the COMELEC Rules of Procedure which prescribes a five-day period to appeal. The COMELEC en banc, in an Order dated October 14, 1998, denied Antonio’s motion for reconsideration. Antonio filed the instant petition for certiorari, arguing that the applicable appeal period is ten days as provided under Section 9 of Republic Act No. 6679 and Section 252 of the Omnibus Election Code.

ISSUE

Whether the period to appeal a decision of a municipal trial court to the COMELEC in an election protest involving a barangay position is five days per COMELEC Rules of Procedure or ten days as provided in Republic Act No. 6679 and the Omnibus Election Code.

RULING

The Supreme Court ruled that the period to appeal is five days as provided in the COMELEC Rules of Procedure. The Court held that the COMELEC, under the 1987 Constitution , has the constitutional authority to promulgate its own rules of procedure concerning pleadings and practice in all election cases, provided they do not diminish, increase, or modify substantive rights. The five-day appeal period prescribed in Section 21, Rule 35 of the COMELEC Rules of Procedure is a procedural rule that does not affect substantive rights. In contrast, the ten-day appeal period in Section 9 of R.A. No. 6679 and Section 252 of the Omnibus Election Code, which provides for an appeal to the Regional Trial Court, was rendered inoperative by the transfer of appellate jurisdiction over barangay election contests from the Regional Trial Courts to the COMELEC under Section 2(2), Article IX-C of the Constitution. Therefore, the COMELEC did not commit grave abuse of discretion in dismissing the appeal filed nine days after receipt of the MTC decision, as it was filed beyond the mandatory and jurisdictional five-day period. The petition was dismissed.