THE Regional Trial Court Branch 60 of Barili dismissed the quo warranto case filed by former Dumanjug mayor Nelson Garcia against incumbent Mayor Efren “Gungun” Gica and upheld the validity of the latter’s proclamation.
During the May 2016 elections, Gica obtained the highest number of votes, while Garcia got the second highest.
Garcia questioned the validity of Gica’s certificate of candidacy as well as his subsequent proclamation as the winning mayoral candidate and moved to disqualify Gica from the position via a quo warranto petition.
Garcia’s allegations were anchored on claims that Gica did not disclose his dual citizenship in his certificate of candidacy by hiding that he was also an American citizen. In his quo warranto petition, Garcia explained that Gica is an ineligible candidate due to his citizenship misrepresentation and pointed out that it should be him (Garcia) who is proclaimed as the winning candidate as “he obtained the highest number of votes from among the qualified candidates for Municipal Mayor of Dumanjug, Cebu.”
Judge Leopoldo Cañete, the presiding judge, said the evidence presented by Garcia was insufficient to establish that Gica is a dual citizen.