Comelec exec: Degamo still legitimate bet despite DQ rap
Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo
BACOLOD CITY — Mayor Janice Degamo of Pamplona town, Negros Oriental remains a legitimate candidate for representative of the province’s third district despite a petition for her disqualification, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday.
Mayor Degamo, widow of slain Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, is facing a disqualification complaint regarding her residency in Siaton town.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, director of the Comelec in Negros Island Region (NIR), explained that a disqualification case would have to be first decided by the poll body’s first division afterwhich a motion for reconsideration to a ruling can be filed before the Comelec en banc.
A candidate, he said, can also seek further redress by going to the Supreme Court for an appeal and a temporary restraining order.
The complaint against Degamo was filed at the end of April.
“Why did they just file a complaint questioning Degamo’s residency so close to the elections? If her residency is being questioned, it should have been done earlier,” Castillano said.
Should Degamo win in the May 12 polls, Castillano said the complaint could become moot and academic.
“That is because questions on the qualification of a congressional bet who wins and has taken an oath will then have to be decided by the House Electoral Tribunal,” he explained.
Castillano also said he does not know who the complainant is since the petition was probably filed at the Comelec central office in Manila. The central office has not yet directed the Comelec NIR to serve a summons to Degamo to respond to the complaint, he added.
Andrei Bon Tagum, lawyer of Degamo, said his client has not received a copy of the complaint.
Running against Lakas-CMD’s Degamo for the third district congressional seat are independent bet Reynaldo Lopez and the Liberal Party’s Janice Teves.
Degamo transferred her registration as a voter to Siaton town on May 6, 2024. Tagum said Degamo has completed her residency requirement of one year in Siaton to qualify as a congressional candidate in the third district./mcm
