G.R. No. 216691 , July 21, 2015
MARIA ANGELA S. GARCIA, Petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and JOSE ALEJANDRE P. PAYUMO III, Respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Maria Angela S. Garcia and private respondent Jose Alejandre Payumo III were candidates for mayor of Dinalupihan, Bataan in the May 13, 2013 elections. Garcia was proclaimed the winner. Payumo received a certified copy of the printed Certificate of Canvass of Votes and Proclamation (printed COCP) from the Office of the Election Officer, which bore the date May 15, 2013, and contained the signatures and thumbprints of the Municipal Board of Canvassers (MBOC). On May 27, 2013, Payumo filed an election protest with the Regional Trial Court (RTC), arguing it was timely filed within ten days from May 15, 2013, considering May 25, 2013 (the tenth day) was a Saturday. Garcia moved for dismissal, contending she was actually proclaimed on May 14, 2013, as indicated in a manual COCP issued by the MBOC, making the protest filed beyond the ten-day period which lapsed on May 24, 2013. The RTC, after a hearing where MBOC members testified that the proclamation occurred on May 14, 2013, around 5:00 PM, dismissed the protest as filed out of time. Payumo appealed to the COMELEC. The COMELEC First Division and later the En Banc reinstated the protest, ruling that Payumo could not be faulted for relying in good faith on the May 15, 2013 date in the printed COCP officially furnished to him, and that the reglementary period should be reckoned from the date he became aware in good faith of the proclamation, citing Federico v. Comelec. Garcia filed this petition for certiorari.

ISSUE

Whether or not Payumo’s election protest was filed out of time.

RULING

The Supreme Court GRANTED the petition, ruling that the election protest was filed out of time. The Court held that the mandatory and jurisdictional ten-day reglementary period for filing an election protest is reckoned from the actual date of proclamation, not from the date the protestant learned of it. The actual date of Garcia’s proclamation was conclusively established as May 14, 2013, based on the unanimous testimony of the MBOC members under oath during the RTC hearing and the manual COCP. The printed COCP dated May 15, 2013, was a mere clerical error, as the MBOC members explained they finalized and signed the documents on that date but the proclamation itself occurred on May 14. The Court distinguished the case from Federico v. Comelec, noting that the “good faith” rule applied there concerned a candidate’s knowledge of their own disqualification, not the reckoning of the protest period. The ten-day period, being non-extendible and jurisdictional, expired on May 24, 2013. Therefore, the protest filed on May 27, 2013, was barred. The COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in reinstating the protest, and the RTC’s order of dismissal was reinstated.