G.R. No. 207264, October 22, 2013
Regina Ongsiako Reyes, Petitioner, vs. Commission on Elections and Joseph Socorro B. Tan, Respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Regina Ongsiako Reyes was a candidate for the House of Representatives for Marinduque. The COMELEC First Division cancelled her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) on March 27, 2013, finding she lacked the required residency and was not a natural-born Filipino citizen. The COMELEC En Banc affirmed this cancellation on May 14, 2013. Despite this final COMELEC ruling, the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) proclaimed Reyes as the winning candidate on May 18, 2013, after which she took her oath of office.
Reyes filed a petition with the Supreme Court, arguing that upon her proclamation and oath, the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) acquired exclusive jurisdiction over all questions regarding her qualifications, divesting the COMELEC of authority. She contended the COMELEC resolutions should be set aside for denying her due process and adding a qualification not required by the Constitution.

ISSUE

Whether the COMELEC was divested of jurisdiction over the cancellation of Reyes’s COC upon her proclamation and oath of office as a Member of the House of Representatives.

RULING

The Supreme Court denied the Motion for Reconsideration and upheld the COMELEC’s jurisdiction. The legal logic centers on the validity of the proclamation. The Court ruled that the HRET’s exclusive jurisdiction under the Constitution attaches only upon a valid proclamation and assumption of office by a winning candidate. Here, Reyes’s proclamation on May 18, 2013, was invalid and without legal basis.
The COMELEC En Banc’s May 14 Resolution, which cancelled her COC, was a final judgment before the proclamation. Under COMELEC rules, such a decision becomes final and executory after five days unless restrained by the Supreme Court. Reyes did not secure any restraining order. Consequently, at the time of her proclamation, there was a final and executory order cancelling her COC, constituting a definitive legal bar to any proclamation. The PBOC’s act was a precipitate disregard of a superior tribunal’s final order. Since the proclamation was void ab initio, her subsequent oath of office was also ineffectual. Therefore, the condition precedent for HRET jurisdiction—a valid proclamation and assumption of office—was absent. The COMELEC retained its authority to enforce its final cancellation order. The Court found no grave abuse of discretion in the COMELEC’s actions.