The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed its 2025 ruling that abandoned the “second placer rule,” the previous practice of declaring the candidate who received the second highest number of votes as the winner after the disqualification of the candidate who garnered the highest number of votes.

In a resolution issued in Baguio City during its full court session last Wednesday, August 26, the SC said that a permanent vacancy arises when the winning candidate in a local election (provincial, city, and municipal elective officials) is found ineligible or disqualified to hold office.

The SC noted that for local elective positions covered by the Local Government Code (LGC), that vacancy is filled through the rule on succession and not by proclaiming the second placer as the winner.

It stressed: “The second placer lost in the elections. He or she was not the choice of the people.”

However, the SC clarifies that the succession for national elective positions, like the President and Vice-President, is governed exclusively by Article VII, Sections 7 and 8 of the Constitution, “which prescribe the order of succession when the President or Vice-President fails to qualify, dies, or is permanently disabled, removed from office, or resigns.”

Section 7 provides that in case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the President, the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term.

Section 8, on the other hand, states that “in case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of both the President and Vice-President, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall then act as President until the President or Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified”

The SC resolution denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Datu Pax Ali S. Mangudadatu. It said the vacancy in the office of the governor of Sultan Kudarat should be filled by the vice governor after Mangudadatu was disqualified by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as a gubernatorial candidate in the 2022 elections.

Mangudadatu filed a petition before the SC and challenged the ruling of the Comelec which declared his disqualification.

The Comelec case was filed by Sharifa Akeel Mangudadatu, also a gubernatorial candidate in the 2022 elections.

Sharifa Akeel told the Comelec that Mangudadatu could not comply with the residency requirement because the latter was serving as mayor of Datu Abdullah Sangki in Maguindanao.

She argued that Mangudadatu’s performance as mayor contradicted his declare residency in Sultan Kudarat.

The Comelec granted Sharifa Akeel’s petition. The ruling prompted Mangudadatu to elevate the issue before the SC.

The SC affirmed the Comelec’s resolution on Mangudadatu’s disqualification and abandoned the “second placer rule.”

“It is the height of absurdity to continue representing a locality/place as its local chief executive and at the same time declare under oath that you are a resident of another province, that is, that you are no longer a resident of the place where you are currently at the helm of the seat of power. A person cannot have two domiciles at the same time,” the SC said in its 2025 decision.

Thus, the SC ruled that due to Mangudadatu’s disqualification, the elected and proclaimed vice governor should take over as governor of Sultan Kudarat.

It also declared that “the second placer rule laid down in Jalosjos Jr. (a 2012 case) has no legal basis. No law authorizes the proclamation of the second placer in the elections in case the candidate who received the most votes is disqualified or turned out to be ineligible.”

It stressed: “The second placer rule undermines the people's choice in every election and is repugnant to the people's constitutional right to suffrage. The Court cannot impose upon the electorate to accept as their representative, the candidate whom they did not choose in the elections.”