Led by women’s group Kapisanan ng mga Babaing Pinuno sa Lucena Inc., the participants which included members of the youth, transport, religious and the elderly sectors were mostly supporters of beleaguered mayor Barbara Ruby Talaga, whom they believe to be legally elected to her post in the May 2010 elections.
Quezon Second District board member Romano Talaga, the mayor’s son, was almost in tears as he appealed for a right and fair decision from the Supreme Court. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc had earlier made a decision unseating the mayor.
The mayor’s supporters, meantime, filed a petition for certiorari and a temporary restraining order to halt the implementation of the Comelec order.
“There is no power, no influence and money that is greater than the prayer we have offered here, and whatever would be the outcome of the problem of leadership gripping the city of Lucena, our family will continue to love and care for it,” said Talaga, adding that hopefully the SC decision will be according to God’s will.
His parents, Barbara Ruby and former mayor Ramon Talaga Jr., were nowhere in sight during the entire early-evening rally, which saw the participants holding lighted candles and chanting “Hail Mary.”
The Comelec en banc has annulled the election and proclamation of Talaga as mayor of this city and ordered her to cease and desist from discharging the functions of her office.
The Comelec also ordered Vice Mayor Roderick Alcala to sit as city mayor and asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Comelec Region 4 director to implement its resolution promulgated on May 20, 2011.
The resolution was signed by five Comelec commissioners, with Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes filing his own dissenting opinion.
On January 11 the Comelec Second Division both dismissed Philip Castillo’s petition for the annulment of Talaga’s proclamation and Alcala’s petition in intervention.
Castillo, who was defeated by Talaga in the May 10, 2010, mayoralty election, questioned the validity of Talaga’s candidacy claiming that she cannot substitute for her husband, then incumbent mayor Ramon Talaga Jr., because the latter’s certificate of candidacy (COC) was cancelled and denied due course.
Talaga has filed his COC for mayor, but was disqualified by the Comelec for his being a three-termer mayor.
The May 20 Comelec decision said that Resolution 8917, issued on May 13, 2010, which gives due course to Talaga’s candidacy, is based on a wrong set of facts. It said the resolution erroneously stated that Barbara filed her candidacy on May 5, 2010, as a substitute candidate when, in fact, she filed it the day before, May 4, 2010, at 4:30 p.m. At the time she filed her candidacy, her husband Ramon Talaga, whom she was substituting, had not yet withdrawn his COC nor was disqualified with finality.
The Comelec claimed that Barbara’s filing her COC made her an “additional candidate” not a substitute candidate and in her failure to qualify, a permanent vacancy was created in the position of the city mayor here.
In his dissenting opinion, Brillantes said that what is important is on election day the people of Lucena City knew the fact of disqualification of Ramon Talaga and his substitution of Ruby Talaga and despite of which they freely cast their vote with a clear intent to elect Ruby Talaga as their mayor.
Simon Aldovino, also a defeated mayoralty bet, said many were completely surprised that it was Barbara Ruby Talaga who was proclaimed winner by the city Comelec on May 13 last year when they said they voted for Ramon Talaga on May 10 adding that many of them are in disbelief and feel they have been had.
Earlier the city’s 23 barangay chairmen here have expressed openly through 2 national newspapers their sentiment about the Comelec decision.
