GENEROSO AVELLANOSA, CONTESTANT AND APPELLEE, VS. BERNARDO VEROY, CONTESTEE AND APPELLANT.

After the general elections held on June 6, 1928, the municipal
board of canvassers of the municipality of Baganga, Province of Davao,
proclaimed Bernardo Veroy elected to the office of municipal president
with 329 votes, Generoso Avellanosa obtaining 257 votes and David
Caobang 51 votes.

Generoso Avellanosa filed a protest with the Court of First Instance
of Davao, alleging as his only ground that the contestee, Bernardo
Veroy, nas not filed his certificate of candidacy according to law, and
he was therefore ineligible, and the votes cast and adjudicated in his
favor were null and void.

Veroy filed his answer, and after the trial of the case, the lower
court rendered its decision declaring the contestee ineligible to the
office of municipal president for lack of a certificate of candidacy
and declaring the contestant, Generoso Avellanosa, elected.

From this decision the contestee Bernardo Veroy appealed, alleging
that the lower court erred in declaring the appellant ineligible for
failure to file his certificate of candidacy in accordance with the
Election Law.

The question presented by the contestant in his protest and the one
now raised by the appellant in this appeal refers to the eligibility of
Bernardo Veroy, who was proclaimed elected to the office of municipal
president of Baganga, Province of Davao. This being the question
submitted to this court in this appeal, it evidently refers to the case
provided in section 408 of the Election Law, as amended by Act No.
3387, approved on December 3, 1927. Said section 408 provides:

“SEC. 408. Proceedings against an ineligible person.—
When an ineligible person is elected to a provincial or municipal
office, his right thereto may be challenged by any elector of the
province or municipality concerned by instituting special proceedings
in the nature of quo warranto before the Court of First
Instance or before the Supreme Court within two weeks after the
proclamation of his election. The case shall be tried in accordance
with the usual procedure in quo warranto provided by law, and shall be
decided by the court within thirty days after the filing of the
complaint.”

In accordance with said section 408 of the Election Law, as construed in the cases of Yra vs. Abaño (52 Phil., 380), and De la Rosa vs. Yonson (52 Phil., 446), the judgment appealed from is hereby reversed, without special pronouncement as to costs. So ordered,

Avanceña, C. J., Johnson, Street, Johns, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.