Dismissed Mandaue Metropolis Mayor Jonas Cortes. | CDN Digital photograph / Mary Rose Sagarino
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Dismissed Mandaue Metropolis Mayor Jonas Cortes could also be proclaimed if he wins the election in Might 2025; nonetheless, permitting him to imagine his put up is one other matter.
This was the assertion of Fee on Elections (COMELEC)-7 Regional Director, lawyer Francisco Pobe, in an interview with members of the media.
“Sa amoa sa Fee on Election’s standpoint, ma-proklamar gyud siya. Ang difficulty diha kung makalingkod siya that’s one other story. Kay amo lang nga difficulty is ang diri sa Comelec, separate man ni sa katong disqualification,” Pobe mentioned.
(From the Fee on Elections’ standpoint, he may be proclaimed. The problem is whether or not he can assume workplace—that’s one other story. Our concern in Comelec is separate from the disqualification case.)
Cortes is searching for reelection within the upcoming election.
Earlier, the ballot physique formally disqualified Cortes from working within the Might 2025 native and nationwide elections after the Comelec en banc issued a certificates of finality and an entry of judgment on January 3, 2025.
His disqualification stemmed from a petition filed by lawyer Ervin Estandarte on October 25, 2024, citing alleged materials misrepresentation in his Certificates of Candidacy. Cortes had marked “Not Relevant (N/A)” in response to a query about pending instances, failing to reveal his dismissal from service by the Ombudsman on October 3, 2024.
Nonetheless, Cortes was capable of safe a short lived restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court docket, stopping Comelec from canceling his COC and eradicating his title from the checklist of candidates in Mandaue Metropolis.
“Ang amo lang nga difficulty is, siyempre sa Comelec, separate mani katong disqualification niya nga kadtong difficulty nga na-resolve na gani sa Fee on Election nga disqualified man siya. Pero topic lang sa TRO, that’s why ang iyang pangan gibalik sa listahan sa balota,” he added.
(Our concern in Comelec is, in fact, separate from his disqualification case, which has already been resolved by the Fee on Elections, declaring him disqualified. However since it’s topic to a TRO, his title was reinstated on the poll checklist.)
Nonetheless, Cortes stays “perpetually disqualified to carry any public workplace” based mostly on the Ombudsman’s determination in October 2024, which led to his dismissal.
The Ombudsman discovered Cortes responsible of grave misconduct for permitting the continued operation of Suprea Philippines Growth Corp., a batching plant in Barangay Labogon, Mandaue, regardless of its lack of a enterprise allow, sanitary allow, and environmental clearance.
Cortes’ camp filed an attraction with the Court docket of Appeals; nonetheless, the appellate courtroom denied his plea for a Short-term Restraining Order and a Writ of Preliminary Injunction.
“Kay ang implications ani, na-unseat naman siya, which is on report diba? So karon ang difficulty nalang diha is on the problem of the reversal or kung unsay mahitabo sa iyang Ombudsman (nga kaso),” he mentioned.
(The implication right here is that he has already been unseated, which is on report, proper? So now, the problem is whether or not this will probably be reversed or what is going to occur to his Ombudsman case.)
“So ang ako, that is my solely notion, nga kung, if ever nga modaog man si Mayor sa iyang mayoryal bid unya naa ra ang iyang suspension, I wish to imagine nga ang suspension niya mao na’y mo-trigger sa iya sigurong pagka-mayor,” he defined.
(As for me, that is simply my notion—if the mayor wins his mayoral bid however his suspension stays, I imagine that his suspension would possible forestall him from assuming the place.)
Earlier, the dismissed mayor’s camp said that the CA’s denial of the TRO wouldn’t have an effect on his eligibility to run within the Might 2025 elections.
Metropolis Administrator Jamaal James Calipayan clarified this on Friday, March 7, saying the request for a TRO was a part of Cortes’ petition for overview filed earlier than the Court docket of Appeals.
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