Comelec says Joey Uy may face criminal case for `misrepresentation’
Commission on Elections. File photo
MANILA, Philippines — Joey Uy, whose certificate of candidacy (COC) got voided by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division for material misrepresentation, may face a criminal case if and when the Comelec finds probable cause.
This is what Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said when asked if Uy will experience the same fate of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo who is facing material misrepresentation charges filed by Comelec.
“If proven, there may be a probable cause to file a criminal case because misrepresentation is a criminal case under the Omnibus Election Code [OEC], and at the same time, perjury,” Garcia, speaking in Filipino, told reporters in an online interview.
READ: Comelec division declares Abante winner of Manila’s 6th district
Garcia also said that the filing of charges based on probable cause will depend on the finality of the decision.
“If the decision becomes final, the individual may face that kind of case in the Commission on Elections,” Garcia added.
Garcia noted that the decision of the second division is not yet final as Uy can still file a motion for reconsideration. Once filed, the appeal will be elevated to the Comelec en banc where it will be deemed final and executory five days after its decision is promulgated.
“It means that within those five days, the petitioner or respondent who will lose the case may appeal before the Supreme Court [SC] to ask for a temporary restraining order to stop the implementation of Comelec,” Garcia said.
Garcia added that if the poll body does not receive a TRO from the SC, they will immediately execute the order.
Second division’s ruling
Uy won the Manila City 6th District Congressional race against Bienvenido “Benny” Abante by a close margin of 1,388 votes.
But the Comelec Second Division on Wednesday declared Abante as the duly elected representative of the Manila City’s district after it voided Joey Uy’s proclamation and COC due to material misrepresentation.
Abante, in his petition, alleged that Uy is not a natural-born Filipino citizen in contrast to what the latter stated in his COC. The 1987 Constitution states that being a natural-born citizen is one of the qualifications to be a member of the House of Representatives.
Uy said that he was born on March 15, 1962, to a Chinese father, who acquired Philippine citizenship through naturalization when Joey was five years old, and to a Filipina mother.
The division ruled that Uy is “at most a naturalized citizen, not a natural-born one,” noting that he only acquired his citizenship after his father’s naturalization.
The Alice Guo case
Comelec in its resolution dated October 8, 2024 said that Guo “declared in her COC that she is a Filipino citizen and a resident of Bamban, Tarlac, when in truth and in fact, she is not.”
READ: Alice Guo faces misrepresentation raps filed by Comelec
The poll body in its investigation found out that the fingerprints of Guo in its voting records and the fingerprints of a Chinese woman named Guo Hua Ping in the National Bureau of Investigations’ database matched.
The poll body said that the declaration of alleged false information in her COC is a violation of Section 74 in relation to the Section 262 of the OEC.
While Garcia pointed out that the false declaration of Uy and Guo in their COCs, which the poll body finds as material misrepresentation, may be the same, there are still differences.
“The difference is that no one filed a petition to deny due course and/or cancel the candidacy of the one who ran as mayor in Bamban, Tarlac,” Garcia said.
