Comelec en banc OKs petition to cancel Pichay’s COC
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Tuesday, April 30, approved a petition canceling the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) of former lawmaker Prospero Pichay Jr., reversing the earlier dismissal of the said petition by the poll body’s first division.
In a 10-page resolution, Comelec declared Pichay’s COC running for Surigao del Sur First District in the 2022 national elections cancelled.
“Wherefore, in view of the foregoing, the Commission (en banc) grants petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration dated 20 January 2022 and reverses and sets aside the Resolution of the Commission (Former First Division) promulgated on 15 February 2022,” the resolution read.
Aside from the COC being “denied due course and cancelled,” the poll body also said that the votes Pichay garnered during the 2022 polls “are considered as stray.”
The Comelec’s resolution also directed its law department to conduct an investigation for the possible filing of an election offense case against Pichay “for his alleged commission of a material misrepresentation” in his COC.
The petition, filed by Surigao del Sur First District Rep. Romeo S. Momo, sought to cancel Pichay’s COC before the May 2022 based on the Office of the Ombudsman decision dated July 4, 2022 that the former lawmaker was found guilty of grave misconduct.
The penalty imposed by the Ombudsman was dismissal from the service with “accessory penalties” of “forfeiture of all benefits, except leave credits, and disqualification to hold any public office.”
According to Momo’s petition, Pichay’s COC should be cancelled because “he falsely misrepresented in his Certificate of Candidacy that he is eligible for the office he seeks to be elected but in truth, he is perpetually disqualified to hold public office.”
The false misrepresentation in his COC meant a “deliberate attempt to mislead or misinform the voters” and “to conceal his lack of qualification as a legitimate candidate.”
