8/12/2019 Lucero v COMELEC digest

Lucero v. COMELEC  boxes from Precinct 7 and 16 to the Commission wherein the keys
thereof shall be turned over to the PES who shall in turn give the
G.R. No. 113107 | 20 Jul 1994 
keys for each ballot boxes to the duly authorized representatives of
Davide, Jr., J.
Lucero and Ong 
" The Court issued a TRO against the implementation of the above-
Petitioner: Wilmar Lucero (Lucero), Jose Ong, Jr. (Ong)  mentioned resolution and eventually ordered the COMELEC to
Respondent: COMELEC  cease and desist from implementing the same  
"  Acting on motions for reconsideration and clarification respectively
Consolidated petition for certiorari seeking to annul the 7 Jan 1994 filed by COMELEC and Lucero, the Court modified its decision and
resolution of COMELEC  instead ordered to re-ra#e the case to COMELEC  
" In 1994, COMELEC en banc issued the assailed resolution
Related Provision/s:  ordering a re-tabulation of the votes including the results of
Precinct 16 and the ‘COMELEC-copy’ of the results for Precinct 7,
Omnibus Election Code, Section 6. Requirements for holding a a special election for Precinct 13, and a recount of Precinct 7
special election  conditioned upon the results of Precinct 13  
" Both Lucero and Ong contested the said resolution 
1935 Constitution, Article VI, Section 9. In case of vacancy in the
" Lucero — the count of ballots in Precinct 7 must be
Senate or in the House of Representatives, a special election may be unconditional because the election returns therefrom are invalid 
called to fill such vacancy in the manner prescribed by law, but the
" Ong — COMELEC has no authority to order the correction and
Senator or Member of the House of Representatives thus elected
to call for a special election almost two (2) years after the regular
 shall serve only for the unexpired term
election 
" Hence, this petition  
Facts: 
" Lucero lost to Ong by 204 votes in the 1992 elections for the Issue/s: 
position of district representative of the 2nd legislative district of W/N the count of Precinct 7 must come before the holding special
Northern Samar  election in Precinct 13
" The tally, however, did not include the results of the following:  W/N a special election could be held 1 year and 10 months after
" Precinct No. 7 — Illegible  the regular election 
"Precinct No. 13 — Snatched ballots; no election held 
"Precinct No. 16 — Missing election returns 
" In light of this failure, Lucero moved for the COMELEC to suspend
the proclamation of Ong and to hold a special election for Precinct
No. 13 
"  Acting on Lucero’s urgent manifestation, COMELEC directed PBC
to desist from reconvening until further orders  
" Ong moved to lift the suspension in which Lucero opposed 
" COMELEC en banc issued a resolution ordering the Provincial
Election Supervision (PES) of Northern Samar to bring the ballot

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8/12/2019 Lucero v COMELEC digest

Held:  hold a special election in Precinct 13 in not later than 30 days if

!  Yes. The count of Precinct 7 must be determined before holding a found necessary after the completion of the preceding orders 
special election in Precinct 13. 
! Requirement for holding a special election 
!Failure of election 
!E$ect of failure of election in the results of the election  
! It must therefore be necessary to know the total number of
votes and the di$erence before it could be determined if a
special election is necessary 
!If after including the count of Precinct 7, the di $erence in the
votes are less than 213, which is the total number of voters
in Precinct 13, then a special election is deemed to be
necessary because its failure then would have an e$ect in
the results of the election 
! The ‘COMELEC copy’, which the authenticity is doubted,
cannot be used, therefore, a count is in order to determine the
 
!
real
 Yes. A results
specialinelection
Precinct 7 still be held even after 1 year and 10
could
months after the regular election. 
! Requirements in fixing the date of the special election 
Not later than 30 days after the cessation of the cause of the
!

postponement or suspension of the election or the failure to

elect 
Reasonably close to the date of the election held,
!

suspended, or which resulted in failure to elect 

! The delay was primarily caused by the legal skirmishes and
maneuvers of the petitioners, therefore the holding of the
special election after almost two years may still be deemed to
be reasonably close to the date of the election not held  
! Constitutional and statutory proscription are inapplicable to
special elections which may be called under Section 6 of the
Omnibus Election Code 

Ruling: 
Ong’s petition denied. 
Lucero’s petition granted — ordering the COMELEC to count the
votes in Precinct 7, correct and add the votes in Precinct 13, and

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