The opponents of Vico Sotto are not yet finished
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto is facing a new disqualification case, Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia said.
Mayor Vico’s victory in Pasig resonated in other areas in the Philippines because he is known and admired for his good governance. For his third term as the mayor, the public servant faced an opponent that created a buzz on social media.
To recall, Mayor Vico faced a disqualification case filed by his opponent Sarah Discaya’s husband. The mayor just shrugged it off.
After the May 12 elections, Vico Sotto was proclaimed as the Pasig City Mayor with a landslide win. This was celebrated by the majority of the residents and even by people from different cities.
Even after the proclamation, the Mayor is facing a new disqualification case, based on the article in Inquirer. “I don’t know the nature [of the case], but I was informed by the clerk of the commission that it was a petition to disqualify that candidate,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said.
Garcia said that the filing fee was already paid. This means that the case was officially filed before the Comelec. However, the chairman said that the petition to disqualify is only allowed to be filed before the proclamation.
“Question, is that still allowed? I will not answer the merits. But usually, the petition to disqualify is only allowed to be filed before the proclamation of the candidate,” Garcia said.
He added that you can no longer file after the proclamation except for election protests or quo warranto. Another possibility is that if you want to file a criminal case like an election offense.
Garcia, on the other hand, said that the disqualification case has a timeline until the period before the proclamation.
A day after the elections, Mayor Vico was already proclaimed as the winner with 351,392 votes, based on the official tally of Comelec while his opponent Sarah Discaya only got 29,591 votes.
As of this writing, Mayor Vico Sotto has not spoken yet about the disqualification case filed against him.