THE legal team of Negros Oriental Gov. Henry Teves has advised him not to step down from his post yet and insisted that he should continue serving the people of Negros Oriental as governor because he was already proclaimed the winner of the gubernatorial race in the province.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, who is Teves’ legal counsel, insisted the provincial leader has already taken his oath as governor and should be allowed to serve his people. Likewise, Topacio said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has yet to rule on a pending case questioning the eligibility of former governor Roel Degamo to run for a fourth time for the post, which is contrary to the three-term limit under the Constitution.
A petition has been filed with the Comelec saying that Degamo was no longer eligible to run for governor in 2022 because he has already served his third and final term. The Constitution allows local officials to serve for only three executive terms. Degamo ran and won in 2013, 2016, and 2019.
He, however, was dismissed from office by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016 and 2017 due to alleged misuse of public funds. He ran to the Court of Appeals and secured a temporary restraining order against his dismissal, which resulted in his reinstatement in office.
Topacio said the Comelec should first rule on the petition questioning Degamo’s eligibility before allowing him to take over the gubernatorial seat from Teves. Likewise, the legal counsel questioned the validity of the Comelec decision nullifying Teves’ victory in the May 2022 local elections.
Topacio said the decision was not legal because there was supposedly no quorum on the part of the Comelec to decide on the issue. He stressed that there should be at least four commissioners present in an en banc meeting before a decision is arrived at.
To recall, the Comelec ordered Teves to vacate his post after ruling that the votes of the nuisance candidate by the name of Ruel Degamo should be counted in favor of the former governor, Roel Degamo.
