MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) canceled the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Camarines Norte Governor Edgardo Tallado because he was seeking a prohibited 4th term as governor. 

“The Certificate of Candidacy filed by Respondent Edgardo A. Tallado is canceled,” said the Comelec First Division in a resolution dated Friday, March 29, but obtained by Rappler on Monday, April 1.

Comelec commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Marlon Casquejo voted to cancel Tallado’s COC, while the division’s presiding commissioner, Al Parreño, dissented.

Tallado has served 3 consecutive 3-year terms as Camarines Norte governor since 2010. The law limits governors like him to 3 consecutive terms.

The question was whether he is on his 3rd and last term now, given that he was suspended from office in 2015, and was dismissed but later reinstated in 2018.

In October 2015, the Ombudsman suspended him for one year for oppression and grave abuse of authority while he was serving his second term. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) immediately implemented this Ombudsman ruling.

Then, while serving his 3rd term, the Ombudsman dismissed him from public office for grave misconduct. The DILG implemented this decision in March 2018, but reinstated him in October 2018 after an appeal. 

The Comelec said Tallado’s suspension during his second term “merely resulted in his temporary inability or disqualification to exercise the functions of an elective post.” He also “did not lose his right to hold on to his office.” 

The Comelec added that Tallado’s term was not interrupted by the Ombudsman decision dismissing him from office. “The Decision did not, with finality, remove Respondent and divest him of his title to the office of the provincial governor.”

“Clearly, Respondent’s suspension and/or removal from office is and ought not to be considered an involuntary interruption of Respondent’s continuity of service,” the Comelec First Division ruled. – Rappler.com