Comelec told to disqualify Abellanosa

South District election officer Edwin Cadungog (left) and then councilor and now Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa, (right) show Abellanosa’s certificate of candidacy in this Oct. 5, 2012 file photo— the first time he ran for the Cebu City South representative post. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

A Cebu City resident filed a petition asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to already disqualify Rep. Rodrigo “Bebot” Abellanosa of Cebu City’s south district from seeking reelection in May.

In a motion for early resolution filed at the Comelec’s first division, Philip Banguiran said Abellanosa is no longer qualified to run for office after the Ombudsman ordered him dismissed from service.

“Petitioner respectfully moves for the early resolution of the above-entitled case and to immediately cancel the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) of the respondent in order not to allow a miscarriage of justice, especially that the respondent has been misleading his constituents about his eligibility and qualification for the office he is presently seeking,” Banguiran’s motion stated.

STILL A CANDIDATE

Edwin Cadungog, Cebu City South District election officer, for his part, said yesterday that they haven’t received any communication from their central office to disqualify Abellanosa and to cancel his COC.

Cadungog said as far as the Comelec is concerned, Abellanosa is still a candidate for the coming elections.

Banguiran and Abellanosa already submitted their respective memoranda to the Comelec after the case conference it called last Dec. 14, 2015.

In their latest motion seeking the early resolution of the case, Banguiran also attached a copy of the Feb. 10, 2016 endorsement of Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente asking Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista to already implement the Ombudsman’s earlier ruling on Abellanosa’s disqualification.

The Deputy Ombudsman in February last year found Abellanosa guilty of grave misconduct for conflict of interest after his school Asian College of Technology (ACT) got the bulk of Cebu City’s scholarship funding assistance at a time when Abellanosa was still a Cebu City councilor.

The Ombudsman in that decision also ordered that Abellanosa be dismissed from public service.

Abellanosa, however, is contesting this Ombudsman decision at the Court of Appeals.

Councilor Gerardo Carillo, who is challenging Abellano’s reelection bid, distributed copies of Banguiran’s motion to reporters in a press conference held yesterday.

He admitted that he is personally following up on the case since “they are seeking for justice.”

“It’s actually the party (Team Rama) that will benefit. Not just me because it’s the party who filed the disqualification,” Carillo said.

He said he hopes the Comelec will already resolve the case since currently there is “a cloud of doubt on Bebot’s (Abellanosa) candidacy.”

Mayor Michael Rama earlier admitted that the party supported Banguiran’s filing of the disqualification case against Abellanosa in October last year.

SOLON’S  ANSWER

Sought for comment, Abellanosa said Carillo is lying and that what he’s doing is an “act of desperation.”

“My opponent has been telling everyone including the media that I am already disqualified. I have heard that he is also distributing campaign materials in the barangays saying I am already disqualified. Now from his own camp, here comes Philip Banguiran, who filed a petition asking the Comelec to disqualify me.

Therefore, now I can declare that Gerry Carillo has been lying to the public,” he said in a text message.

He said Team Rama is getting rattled with the situation now.

Abellanosa then claimed that both the in-house surveys of Team Rama and the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) show that he is leading the surveys 80 percent to 20 percent against Carillo.

He also said around 10,000 leaders of women’s groups in the city have pledged support to BO-PK and that their sorties are overcrowded even if they don’t have bingo and rice giveaways like what Team Rama is doing.