G.R. No. 179430 - JAMELA SALIC MARUHOM, VS. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, AND MOHAMMADALI "MERICANO" A. ABINAL. D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, Maruhom cannot be considered a registered voter in Marantao and, thus, she made a false representation in her COC when she claimed to be one. Maruhom's voter registration constitutes a material fact because it affects her eligibility to be elected as municipal mayor of Marantao. Section 39(a) of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991, [27] requires that an elective local official must be, among other things, a registered voter in the barangay , municipality , city or province where he intends to be elected. Several circumstances convince us that Maruhom was aware that she had a subsisting registration in Marawi and deliberately attempted to conceal said fact, which would have rendered her ineligible to run as mayoralty candidate in Marantao. Before filing her COC, Maruhom requested the COMELEC to cancel her Marawi registration. [28] It is undisputed that by the time Maruhom filed her COC, the COMELEC had not yet acted on her request for cancellation of her Marawi registration. Despite knowing that her request for cancellation of her Marawi registration was still pending before the COMELEC, Maruhom proceeded to declare, under oath, in her COC, that she was a registered voter in Marantao and that she was eligible to run for the position of mayor of said municipality. There is no showing that Maruhom informed or advised the election officer of Marantao of her subsisting Marawi registration and her pending request for cancellation of the same. Evidently, Maruhom would much rather sweep the fact of her Marawi registration under the carpet, than deal with the complications arising from it, which may very well put in jeopardy her intention to run for mayor of Marantao. Indeed, Maruhom made false material representations in her COC that she was a registered voter in Marantao and that she was eligible to be a mayoralty candidate in said municipality. Maruhom's insistence that only the MTC has jurisdiction to rule on her voter registration is specious. It must be underscored that in addition to the express jurisdiction of COMELEC over petitions for cancellation of COCs, on the ground of false material representations, under Section 78 of the OEC, the Constitution also extends to COMELEC all the necessary and incidental powers for it to achieve the holding of free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections. [29] The determination, therefore, made by the COMELEC that Maruhom's Marawi registration is valid, while her Marantao registration is void, is only in accord with its explicit jurisdiction, or at the very least, its residual powers. Furthermore, as aptly pointed out by Abinal and COMELEC, through the Office of the Solicitor General, [30] the 8 May 2007 Resolution of the COMELEC First Division and the 21 August 2007 Resolution of the COMELEC en banc merely defeated Maruhom's intent to run for elective office, but it did not deprive her of her right to vote . Although Maruhom's registration in Mara