Disqualified councilor to challenge decision

THE CAMP of Cebu City Councilor Alvin Arcilla will ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reverse its decision disqualifying him from the midterm elections in May.

Arcilla, who is running for councilor in Cebu City’s north district, said he has yet to receive a copy of the Comelec first division’s decision cancelling his certificate of candidacy (COC).

Lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, Arcilla’s spokesperson, said the decision is not yet final and executory.

Ligutan said they will file a motion seeking the reversal of the decision as soon as they receive a copy of the order signed by Presiding Commissioner Al Parreño and two other commissioners last March 16.

“Councilor Arcilla is still a bona fide candidate. The people can still vote for him and once he wins he can still be proclaimed as duly elected official,” he said.

Aside from Arcilla, a petition was also filed to cancel the COC of Councilor Sisinio Andales.

Andales and Arcilla were elected councilors in 2010, 2013 and 2016. On May 17, 2016, they were suspended for six months by Malacañang along with then Cebu City mayor Michael Rama, Vice Mayor Labella and 10 other councilors.

Both officials filed their COCs last October despite the threeterm limit rule. Under the Constitution, any local official is not allowed to run if they have served three consecutive terms, or a total of nine years or three years per term.