RODOLFO C. FARIÑAS, PETITIONER, VS. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS AND ANTONIO F. LAZO, RESPONDENTS.

Rodolfo Fariñas, 28, filed on January 4, 1980 with the election
registrar of Laoag
City his certificate
of candidacy is the standard bearer of the Nacionalista
Party the position of mayor of
that city in the election held on
January 30, 1980.

At four-thirty in
the afternoon of that same day he filed with the Commission on Elections in Manila
another certificate of candidacy wherein he indicated that he was nominated by the
Kilusang Bagong Lipunan as its official candidate for mayor of Laoag City.

At the same time, he wrote to the election registrar at Laoag City
a letter withdrawing his certificate of candidacy under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.  Fariñas said that his first certificate of candidacy was a
mistake since he was actually running as a KBL candidate (p. 44, Rollo).

On January 8, 1980,
Ernesto T. Fariñas wrote a letter informing the
provincial election registrar at Laoag
City that Rodolfo C. Fariñas headed the KBL ticket for the elective positions in
Laoag City
(p 43, Rollo).  On
January 20, 1980, Laoag City
was declared a free zone as far as the KBL was concerned.

In view of those two certificates of candidacy of Fariñas, Antonio F. Lazo, the
other KBL candidate for mayor, filed with the Comelec
on January 20, 1980 a
petition to disqualify Fariñas.  A copy of the petition was served upon Fariñas.  He answered
it on January 25, 1980.  His answer was not verified.  The case was heard the next day, Saturday, at
four o’clock in the afternoon.  No oral evidence was received.  The parties submitted as exhibits the annexes
to their pleadings.

The Comelec in its brief Resolution No.
8547 in PDC No. 158 dated January 28, 1980 (two days before the election and
the very day when Fariñas submitted his verified
answer to replace the unverified answer which he had previously filed) held
that Fariñas‘ candidacy should not be given due
course because of turncoatism and “for engaging
in partisan political activities before the campaign period” (See Presidential Decrees Nos. 1296 and
1661).

The next day, January 29, Fariñas filed
in this Court a petition for certiorari wherein he assailed that resolution.  A
restraining order was immediately issued to stop its enforcement.  Hence, Fariñas
remained as a KBL candidate.

In spite of the disqualification resolution, which was made known
to the voters, Fariñas won the election by a margin
of 6,419 votes over Lazo.  Fariñas was
proclaimed on February 6 as the duly elected mayor after the Comelec had lifted its order suspending the proclamation
(p. 69, Rollo).

Theorizing that the Comelec in allowing
his proclamation, had tacitly acknowledged that he was
qualified for the position of mayor, Fariñas on February 13, 1980 filed a motion to
withdraw his instant petition.  He said
that it had become moot and academic.

The Comelec, through the Solicitor
General, manifested that this case was not rendered moot by the proclamation of
Fariñas (p. 178, Rollo).  Respondent Lazo was
also of the same opinion.  But Fariñas called the Court’s attention to the fact that Lazo in his petition of February 5, 1980 to stop the pro­clamation of Fariñas alleged that this case would be rendered moot by
that proclamation.

We hold that this case should be returned to the Comelec with the directive that, in the light of
supervening events, it should hold another hearing on Lazo’s
petition to disqualify Fariñas.

The previous hearing
before lawyer Horacio Apostol
of the Comelec was summary in character and
was not adequate to cover the factual issues involved in the case.  The parties had no chance to file
memoranda.  Due to the numerous pending
disqualification cases and the nearness of the election, the Comelec did not have ample time and opportunity to receive
evidence in this case and to deliberate thereon.  Its abbreviated resolution is an indication
that the case had not been thoroughly threshed out.

There is some basis for Fariñas‘
observation that the said resolution was a “midnight
disqualification resolution” and that he was denied due process (See Potencion vs. Commission on Elections, G. R. No. 52527,
September 4, 1980 and cases cited therein.)

WHEREFORE, the Comelec’s
resolution of January 28, 1980,
disqualifying Fariñas, is set aside.  The Comelec is
directed to set anew for hearing the disqualification petition of respondent Lazo, to receive the evidence of the parties and to render
another decision.  No costs.

SO ORDERED.

Teehankee, Barredo,
Makasiar, Concepcion, Jr.,
Fernandez, Guerrero, De Castro, and Melencio-Herrera, JJ., concur.

Fernando, C.J., no part.

Abad Santos, J., reserves his vote.