Case Digest: BIENVENIDO A. CERBO, JR., et al. v. THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, et al. 516 SCRA 51 (2007)

BIENVENIDO A. CERBO, JR., et al. v. THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, et al. 516 SCRA 51 (2007)

COMELEC exercises jurisdiction over petitions for correction of manifest errors only if the same pertains to errors that could not have been discovered during the canvassing, despite the exercise of due diligence. Bienvenido A. Cerbo, Jr., Angelo O. Montilla, and Geronimo P. Arzagon were candidates for representative, governor and vice-governor, respectively of Sultan Kudarat in the May 10, 2004 elections. Suharto T. Mangudadatu, Datu Pax S. Mangudadatu and Donato A. Ligo, on the other hand, were petitioners‘ respective opponents for the same positions. Cerbo et al. filed Petition for Correction of Manifest Errors and/or to Exclude Certificates of Canvass of the Municipalities of Palimbang and Lutayan, Sultan Kudarat before the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC). The PBOC overruled the objection thus, Cerbo et al. filed with the PBOC a notice of appeal, but the appeal was not pursued. Cerbo et al. filed before the COMELEC a Petition for Correction of Manifest Errors and Annulment of Proclamation alleging that the proclamation of Suharto T. Mangudadatu et al. was illegal because it was made despite the filing of the notice of appeal. COMELEC dismissed the petition for correction of manifest errors prompting Cerbo et al. to file a Motion for Reconsideration, arguing that it was erroneous to dispose the petition on purely procedural grounds and not to treat it as an original petition for correction of manifest errors. COMELEC En Banc denied the Motion for Reconsideration.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the COMELEC erred in dismissing the petition for correction of manifest errors

HELD:

A petition for correction of manifest errors filed directly with the COMELEC should thus pertain to errors that could not have been discovered during the canvassing, despite the exercise of due diligence. Petitioner Arzagon, however, together with the other petitioners, initially filed a petition for correction of manifest errors with the PBOC, evidently showing that the errors sought to be corrected were discovered during the canvassing.
On his failure to appeal the PBOCs dismissal of his petition for correction of manifest errors, Arzagon claims that the PBOC did not indicate the reasons therefor, hence, he was prevented from appealing the same.
Even if, however, the Court may, in the interest of justice, treat the petition for correction of manifest errors filed with the COMELEC as an appeal from the PBOC‘s verbal ruling denying petitioners‘ similar petition filed with the latter, its dismissal by the COMELEC is in order. Specifically with respect to the Palimbang COC, since its exclusion had earlier been denied by the PBOC, and the denial was not appealed, it had become final. The subsequent filing of a petition for correction of manifest errors in the Palimbang COC with the PBOC appeared to be just an attempt to substitute the lost appeal, which is impermissible. With respect to Cerbo‘s et al. prayer before this Court for correction of manifest errors in the Lutayan COC, the same cannot be considered as an appeal from the verbal denial by the PBOC of a similar petition they earlier filed. For the petition filed with the COMELEC does not include alleged manifest errors in the Lutayan COC, hence, the COMELEC had no jurisdiction to rule thereon.

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