G.R. No. L-53376 May 26, 1981
FRANCISCO C. MOGUEIS JR., petitioner, vs. THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, THE MUNICIPAL BOARD OF CANVASSERS OF SAN FERNANDO, MASBATE, ATTY. RODOLFO DE GUZMAN, and CESAR AL. BISNAR, respondents.

FACTS

In the January 30, 1980 local elections, petitioner Francisco C. Mogueis, Jr. and private respondent Cesar Al. Bisnar were candidates for mayor of San Fernando, Masbate. The Municipal Board of Canvassers proclaimed Mogueis the winner by a margin of two votes on January 31, 1980. On February 7, 1980, Bisnar filed an election protest with the Court of First Instance of Masbate, alleging fraud and irregularities, including the tampering of election returns in specific voting centers. The following day, he manifested that his protest was without prejudice to filing a pre-proclamation case.
Subsequently, on February 11, 1980, Bisnar filed a petition with the COMELEC to annul Mogueis’s proclamation, docketed as Pre-Proclamation Case No. 372, based on grounds similar to his election protest. The COMELEC initially suspended the proclamation’s effects but later lifted the suspension. Upon Bisnar’s motion for reconsideration, the COMELEC reversed itself again and, by Resolution No. 9449 dated March 6, 1980, restored the suspension and ordered a recount of votes from the contested voting centers.

ISSUE

Whether the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in entertaining the pre-proclamation controversy and issuing the assailed resolutions after a valid proclamation and the filing of a regular election protest.

RULING

Yes. The Supreme Court granted the petition and set aside the COMELEC resolutions. The legal logic is anchored on the doctrine that once a candidate has been duly proclaimed and has assumed office, and a regular election protest has been filed, the proper remedy is the election protest itself, not a pre-proclamation controversy. A pre-proclamation case is summary in nature and is not the appropriate avenue for the ventilation of issues requiring the examination of evidence aliunde, such as allegations of fraud, terrorism, and irregularities in the preparation of election returns. These are matters properly adjudicated in a regular election protest, where the parties can present evidence and the court can conduct a thorough examination.
The Court emphasized that allowing a pre-proclamation case to proceed under these circumstances would lead to unnecessary delay and procedural complications, defeating the summary nature of such proceedings. The filing of Bisnar’s election protest before the Court of First Instance effectively vested that court with jurisdiction over the dispute concerning the election results. Therefore, the COMELEC acted with grave abuse of discretion in issuing the flip-flopping resolutions and ordering a recount, as it encroached upon the jurisdiction of the judicial tribunal and disregarded the finality of the proclamation. Mogueis was ordered reinstated as mayor, without prejudice to the continuation of the pending election protest.