OUSTED Albay governor Noel Rosal yesterday reiterated his plea to the Supreme Court for the issuance of a status quo ante order (SQAO) that would effectively reinstate him to his post.
An SQAO in the legal arena is the state of affairs that preceded the onset of a controversy.
In his appeal, Rosal told the High Court that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) deprived him of his “constitutional right to due process” when its First Division issued a resolution on September 2022 disqualifying him as a candidate for the gubernatorial seat of Albay in the May 9, 2022 elections for alleged violation of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) on the 45-day spending ban.
He said the Comelec issued the disqualification ruling based on “mere allegations” and despite the failure of the complainant to “adduce evidence” against him.
Rosal also told the SC that the poll body has “already ruled that I did not commit vote buying under Section 68(a) of the OEC and the assistance given to tricycle drivers and senior citizens were amounts due them and not for the purpose of influencing or inducing them to vote for me.”
Hence, he added, the poll body committed grave abuse of discretion when it still disqualified him despite its ruling of no vote-buying.
He said there was also no evidence presented to show that he influenced or induced the voters to vote for him in last year’s polls.
Lastly, Rosal cited the recent SC decision reinstating Frank Ong Sibuma as the mayor of Agoo, La Union after it reversed two Comelec resolutions issued in May and June last year that prevented him from assuming his post.
“Like the ousted Mayor of Agoo, La Union who was reinstated by the Supreme Court, I was decisively elected by the people of the province of Albay as their governor despite the pendency of a disqualification against me with a commanding 469,481 total votes. Hence, all doubts should likewise be resolved in favor of the manifest will of the people of Albay who elected me as their governor,” Rosal added.
The poll body said Rosal’s act of giving cash assistance to tricycles and senior citizens in Legazpi City was without prior authority from it as required under the OEC.
Rosal was mayor of Legazpi City before he ran for the gubernatorial post.
He trounced his closest opponent Al Francis Bichara who only got 238,746 votes.
The petition to disqualify Rosal was filed by San Juan Armogila, who ran for councilor in Legazpi City in the same elections but lost his bid.
The Comelec en banc denied Rosal’s appeal on November 18, 2022, prompting him to elevate the case to the SC.
On December 6, he also asked the SC to issue either a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a SQAO.
