Supreme Court: Mendoza stays as Bulacan governor

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled with finality to allow Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza to keep his post until June 20, lawyer Midas Marquez, SC spokesman and administrator, told reporters yesterday.

Mendoza said the magistrates voted during their summer session in Baguio City to junk the motion for reconsideration filed by former agrarian reform secretary Roberto “Obet” Pagdanganan, who was earlier declared by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) winner in the 2007 gubernatorial race for lack of new arguments.

Instead, the SC affirmed its decision last March 23 penned by Associate Justice Jose Perez that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion in ordering Mendoza’s ouster.

The SC again upheld Mendoza’s argument that the Comelec resolution unseating him could still not be enforced because it has not yet attained approval of the majority of the poll body’s commissioners, as required by law.

Nine SC justices voted for the majority ruling, four others dissented, while two took no part in the deliberations, said Marquez.

A resolution of the Comelec’s Second Division showed that Pagdanganan got 342,295 votes as against Mendoza’s 337,974, or a vote margin of 4,321 votes.

Last month, the Comelec upheld this ruling and invalidated Mendoza’s proclamation in the 2007 mid-term polls after junking his motion for reconsideration.

But only three commissioners cast their vote for the majority ruling. The SC said there should be at least four to make the decision final and executory.