Court junks petitions for exclusion of 72 persons from voters list
The Iloilo Regional Trial Court has dismissed the petitions for exclusion filed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against 72 registrants in two precincts in Barangay North Fundidor, Molo for technicalities.
RTC Branch 3 Assisting Judge Ma. Theresa N. Enriquez-Gaspar junked the petitions for exclusion of persons from the registry of list of voters filed by Iloilo City Comelec Officer Atty. Elizabeth Doronila against Maricol A. Bayobay and 30 others in precinct No. 0985B and Aaron S. Bergantinos and 40 others in precinct 0958A.
The Comelec asked the court to exclude the 72 voters from the registry list of voters in the two precincts. The petition filed by the Comelec against Bayobay is docketed as election case no. 07-06 and 07-05 in the petition to exclude Bergantino and the 40 other registrants. The petition for exclusion was filed by the Comelec last April 21, 2007 on the ground that the respondents are not residents of North Fundidor.
In her two decisions, Judge Gaspar said the Comelec's petition was not accompanied by proof of notice to the challenged voters. The court also said the decisions dismissing the petitions were based on the Resolution No. 8218 promulgated by the Comelec on July 6, 2007. The same Comelec resolution provides guidelines for the October 29, 2007 barangay elections.
Section 23 of Comelec Resolution No. 8218 which governs the petition for exclusion of voters from the list stressed the "petition shall be accompanied by proof of notice to the ERB and to the challenged voter and shall be decided within ten days from its filing.
The same section of the resolution also states that petition for exclusion of voters from the list of any registered voter, representative of a political party or the EO, may file with the court a sworn petition for the exclusion of a voter from the permanent list of voters giving the name, address and precinct of the challenged voter at any time but not later than August 6, 2007.
"The instant petition for exclusion was filed on August 21, 2007 and it did not contain any proof of service of the petition to the respondents."
The petition for exclusion of voters from the list is primarily governed under Republic Act 8189 or the Voters Registration Act of 1996.