Pimentel to Comelec: Rule on Teodoro's disqualification ASAP
At A Glance
- Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III insists that the suspended mayor's congressional run is constitutionally defective.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) should swiftly decide on the disqualification case filed against Marikina City Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said.
Pimentel, who ran against Teodoro, made the call on Wednesday, May 14 insisting that the suspended mayor’s congressional run is constitutionally defective.
The senator maintained that Teodoro is not eligible to run for congressman as ruled by the Comelec First Division on Dec. 11, 2024, which cancelled the certificate of candidacy (COC) of the embattled and suspended Marikina mayor.
“We have raised this issue from the very start since October 2024 and the Comelec First Division sided with us in December 2024,” Pimentel pointed out.
“The unofficial vote count of one legislative district cannot override the constitutional requirements,” Pimentel said.
The poll body should swiftly resolve the legal issue which has been pending since the last quarter of 2024.
Pimentel said he is confident that the Comelec will sustain the decision of the First Division which unanimously ruled to cancel Teodoro’s COC for material misrepresentation.
The Comelec division concluded that Teodoro had established legal residence in Marikina’s Second District—specifically in Barangay Tumana—prior to the filing of his candidacy.
He, therefore, failed to meet the one-year residency requirement for congressional aspirants in the First District, Pimentel said.
A series of legal documents, sworn testimonies, and official IDs compelled the Comelec found that Teodoro’s claim of having returned to Barangay San Roque, First District, in April 2024 was not supported by credible, overt acts required to re-establish domicile under election law.
Notably, documents he submitted to the court as late as September 2024 still bore his Tumana address.
“By declaring in his COC the contrary, despite knowing fully well that he did not meet the minimum residency requirement, Teodoro committed material misrepresentation which this Commission cannot countenance,” the Comelec ruling stated.