Pizarras elevates to SC petition for transfer of Bohol election officer
Lawyer Jordan Pizarras
A congressional candidate in Bohol’s first district has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to order the reassignment of the province’s election officer.
Lawyer Jordan Pizarras, who is seeking election under Aksyon Demokratiko, said that the transfer of Bohol Provincial Election Supervisor, Atty. Eliseo Labaria, will ensure the conduct of “credible elections” in their province.
In a petition for mandamus that he filed before the SC last April 10, Pizarras said that there was a need to uphold impartiality in the midterm elections and this cannot be done if Labaria will remain at the Bohol Comelec office.
READ: Lawyer Jordan Pizarras seeks transfer of Bohol Comelec officer
With Labaria holding the position for 15 years or since 2010, suspicions of bias for the incumbents cannot be avoided, he said.
Moreover, Pizarras said it is a constitutional mandate of the Comelec to ensure the conduct of “free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections.”
READ: Lawyer files COC for Bohol 1st district representative
Transfer
Last March 25, Pizarras wrote Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia to formally seek Labaria’s transfer. If his request is denied, Pizarras said that he will raise his concern with the SC.
In his petition, Pizarras urged the High Court to compel the Comelec to enforce existing laws, including the supposed periodic reassignment of local election officers.
Pizarras mentioned of Section 44 of Republic Act No. 8189, which says that no election officer shall serve in a particular city or municipality for more than four years.
In addition, Section 56 of the Omnibus Election Code gives Comelec the authority to implement changes in the assignment of its field officers, he said.
Pizarras said that enforcing these provisions “is crucial to maintaining the impartiality of election officers and, by extension, the credibility of the electoral process.”
He said that the SC’s intervention was necessary to ensure that the Comelec fulfills its constitutional mandates.
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