MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) has declared Roberto “Pinpin” Uy, Jr. as the Zamboanga del Norte 1st District representative, annulling the proclamation of his rival Romeo Jalosjos, Jr.

In a press release on Wednesday, the SC Public Information Office said the magistrates voted on August 8 to grant the petitions of Uy and fellow candidate Frederico Jalosjos.

WHAT HAPPENED

Uy ran in the 2022 polls for Zamboanga del Norte 1st district representative against Romeo "Kuya Jonjon" Jalosjos, Jr. (R. Jalosjos), Frederico "Kuya Jan" Jalosjos (F. Jalosjos) and Richard Amazon (Amazan).

They received the following votes:
• Uy - 69,591
• R. Jalosjos - 69,109
• F. Jalosjos - 5,424
• Amazon - 288

But prior to the elections, R. Jalosjos had petitioned to declare F. Jalosjos a nuisance candidate and to cancel his certificate of candidacy, claiming that F. Jalosjos was never really known to be "Kuya Jan," which sounded similar to his "Kuya Jonjon” nickname.

Comelec declared F. Jalosjos a nuisance candidate on April 19, 2022.

Following the May 9, 2022 elections, R. Jalosjos secured the suspension of Uy's proclamation.

• SC issues status quo ante order on proclamation of Zambo del Norte rep

Commission on Elections (Comelec) then credited F. Jalosjos' 5,424 votes to R. Jalosjos, more than enough to offset the 482-vote difference, and he was proclaimed Zamboanga del Norte 1st district representative on June 23, 2022.

• Comelec proclaims Romeo Jalosjos Jr. as Zamboanga del Norte rep

Both Uy and F. Jalosjos went to the high court to contest R. Jalosjos' proclamation and the orders of the Comelec.

SC DECISION

In ruling in favor of Uy, the Supreme Court said “public policy dictates that candidates receiving the highest votes should be proclaimed without unnecessary delay.”

“The Court stressed that the board of canvassers is a ministerial body with power generally limited to the mechanical function of adding or compiling the votes cast for each candidate,” the press release said, citing the decision penned by Associate Justice Mario Lopez.

SC said the Comelec cannot, on its own, suspend the proclamation. The Comelec order was issued motu proprio or initiated by the poll body on its own, without any pending petition before it.

The high court also found irregularities in the Comelec en banc's order suspending Uy's proclamation.

It noted that an advance copy of the Comelec en banc order was sent by electronic mail to the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) which was undated and lacked the complete signatures of Comelec members.

SC also ruled that it was “irregular” for then-Comelec chair Saidamen Pangarungan to intervene in Uy's proclamation. Pangarungan had called the PBOC chair to confirm the authenticity of the Comelec en banc order suspending the proclamation.

“[T]he Comelec’s power to suspend the proclamation of a winning candidate is not available in proceedings to declare one a nuisance candidate,” SC said, pointing out that Uy was not a party to the petition against F. Jalosjos filed by R. Jalosjos.

According to the high court, R. Jalosjos also did not submit any certification from PBOC to support the suspension of Uy's proclamation. The court pointed out that the suspension of Uy’s proclamation depended not just on the declaration of F. Jalosjos as a nuisance candidate but also on the “statistical probability” of affecting the outcome of the elections.

Reversing the Comelec’s ruling, SC said F. Jalosjos is not a nuisance candidate, citing "the striking difference in the names of 'Jalosjos, Kuya Jan (NUP)' and 'Jalosjos, Jr., Romeo (NP)' on the ballots,” which it said was “more than enough o distinguish the entries in the ballots despite the similarity in the surnames.”

“The Court found that the Comelec solely based its ruling on the alleged erroneous use of a nickname in declaring F. Jalosjos a nuisance without considering his membership in the political party, the importance of a CoC, the preceding campaign period, and the dissimilarities in the names appearing on the ballots,” it said.

“The Court held that the automated elections system (AES) ensured sufficient identifiers on the entries appearing on the ballots, with the candidates’ complete names and political parties now printed, as submitted by the candidates,” it added.

A full copy of the ruling is not yet publicly available.

The SC press release did not include the SC magistrates' votes in the Uy vs. Jalosjos case.

But multiple sources from SC told ABS-CBN News, 11 justices voted in favor of Uy, 2 dissented, 1 took no part (on leave) and 1 inhibited.