Leyte 4th District Representative Richard Gomez. | FILE PHOTO. PHOTO FROM GOMEZ’S FACEBOOK
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in Eastern Visayas clarified that Leyte 4th District Representative Richard Gomez was not disqualified from seeking reelection in the upcoming May 12, 2025, National and Local Elections.
Lawyer Remlane Tambuang, regional director of COMELEC Eastern Visayas, issued this clarification amid the spread of information online claiming that Gomez had been disqualified by COMELEC.
However, Tambuang confirmed that a petition to disqualify Gomez was filed before the COMELEC in Manila.
The petition was filed on March 17, 2025, by dismissed Palompon, Leyte Mayor Ramon Oñate.
The case stemmed from a Facebook post on the page DYRG 101.5 FM “Blue Radio” on March 6 and 7, 2025, where the host, a certain John Kevin Pilapil, allegedly bullied and berated election officer Elvisa Tiu of Palompon, Leyte, in his radio program.
Gomez allegedly became liable after he shared the supposedly malicious post on his official Facebook page.
Aside from this, these Facebook pages also allegedly posted the names of the electoral board members, tagging them in election cheating allegations.
In the petition, the petitioner stated that under Section 261 (z) (II) of the Omnibus Election Code, propagating false and alarming reports or news to the general public is an election offense. It is also a ground for disqualification under Section 1 (c) (3) (viii) of COMELEC Resolution No. 11046.
In a statement, Gomez welcomed the filing, saying that disqualification cases are often used as a smokescreen to divert attention from a candidate’s own misconduct or to disrupt the election process.
“Anyone can file an election-related case against another candidate, regardless of how trivial or baseless the reasons may be,” Gomez said.
“Often, these cases are used as a smokescreen to deflect attention from a candidate’s own misconduct or simply to cause disruption during the election process,” he added.