Estancia Mayor on the offensive: Calls on disqualification of ex-general as mayoralty bet
And the Estancia political saga continues. Seemingly overnight too, after the major players here shook hands, smiled and hugged in public and before news cameras for what was supposed to have been the symbolic start of peace covenants for the Provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Docketed as SPA (PES-ILO) No. A07-007, reelectionist Mayor Rene Cordero formally and officially petitioned that opponent Restituto Mosqueda be disqualified as a mayoralty candidate “for lack of some qualifications or possessing some grounds for disqualification.”
Mosqueda, a former police general is the ruling administration’s bet while Cordero in seeking for yet another term filed his candidacy under the Liberal Party.
In a ten-paged Petition, Cordero averred that his opponent is a “stranger” to Estancia and has long been a purported resident of Quezon City. He also supposedly lack the required one-year period of residency mandatory on all candidates.
In fact, Cordero’s argument continued, Mosqueda is such a stranger to the town “unacquainted with the needs of Estancia community,” while adding that “he does not even know the name of the barangay which he identified as his barangay of residence in his application for registration.”
Registration records presented by Cordero before the Comelec showed Mosqueda’s application that stated “Barangay Calumpang” as supposed residence prior to his registration as new voter here in yet another barangay.
“By his application, he made it appear that at the time he applied for registration, he was already a resident of “Brgy. Calumpang” Estancia for one year and half years prior to his application,” the Petition continued. Yet problem is, “There is no “Barangay Calumpang” in Estancia as per certification by the Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator of Estancia, Iloilo.”
And Mosqueda was born in Sara, the Petition added “thus respondent has no connection by heart, soul and intention with Estancia because it is neither the place of his origin, his ancestral place nor his domicile.”
There could also be a possible violation committed under Republic Act 8189 relative to the change of residence to another city or municipality, Cordero’s Petition for Disqualification as argued added.
The Provincial Comelec will hear the case tomorrow in what is expected to be yet another heated battle of legal minds from both camps.
Cordero will be represented by counsel, noted lawyer Cornelio Panes.