G.R. No. L-2650; October 27, 1950
PRIMO EVANGELISTA, petitioner, vs. HIPOLITO CASTILLO, respondent.

FACTS

This is an election contest for the office of vice-mayor of Mabini, Batangas. The Court of First Instance declared protestant Hipolito Castillo the winner by 18 votes over protestee Primo Evangelista. Evangelista appealed to the Court of Appeals, which dismissed the appeal on the ground that the trial court’s decision was unappealable. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court.

ISSUE

Whether an appeal lies from a decision of the Court of First Instance in an election contest for the office of vice-mayor.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of the appeal. Under Section 178 of the Revised Election Code, appeals to the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals are expressly allowed only from decisions in contests involving provincial governors, members of the provincial board, city councilors, and mayors. Vice-mayors and municipal councilors are not included. The right to appeal is statutory and not a necessary element of due process. Following the doctrine in Lucena vs. Tan, where both questions of fact and law are involved, no appeal lies in election contests for vice-mayor. The present case involves factual controversies (e.g., adjudication of contested ballots, findings on marked ballots), thus the Lucena doctrine applies, not the exception in Marquez vs. Prodigalidad which allowed appeals only on pure questions of law, such as jurisdiction or constitutionality.

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