CASE No.
ALBANIA VS COMELEC
NON-SUFFERING FROM ANY TERM
LIMITATION
FACTS:
WHO IS SOFRONIO:
Petitioner
Registered voter of Poblacion Sta.
Elena Cam Norte
Filed for disqualification of
respondent (Tallado) from running as
governor based on violation of the
three term limit rule under Sec 43 of
LGC.
Accordingly, Tallado violated the 3
term limit rule under Sec 43 of the
LGC
o March 22 to June 30, 2010
(incomplete term) remaining
term of typoco
o 2010 to 2013
o Oct 16, 2015 filed COC for
2016 Election
COMELEC EN BANC decided in favor
oAccordingly, respondent DID NOT
SERVE THE FULL 2007-2010 term
(March 22, 2010 to June 30, 2010:
end of 2010 term) remaining term of
typoco as he was disqualified and
tallado assumed the remaining term
Dissatisfied of the COMELEC En banc
resolution finding respondent
TALLADO qualified For the position As
governor of cam norte
ISSUE:
WHETHER OR NOT Respondent
TALLADO Violated the three term limit
rule under Section 43 of RA No 7160
and thus ineligible to run for public
office.
HELD:
Section 43. Term of Office. -
(a) The term of office of all local
elective officials elected after the
effectivity of this Code shall be three
(3) years, starting from noon of June
30, 1992 or such date as may be
provided for by law, except that of
elective barangay officials:
Provided, That all local officials first
elected during the local elections
immediately following the ratification
of the 1987 Constitution shall serve
until noon of June 30, 1992.
(b) No local elective official shall
serve for more than three (3)
consecutive terms in the same
position. Voluntary renunciation of
the office for any length of time shall
not be considered as an interruption
in the continuity of service for the full
term for which the elective official
concerned was elected.
CASE No. 3
(c) The term of office of barangay
officials and members of the
sangguniang kabataan shall be for
three (3) years, which shall begin
after the regular election of
barangay officials on the second
Monday of May 1994.
Section 40. Disqualifications. - The
following persons are disqualified
from running for any elective local
position:
(a) Those sentenced by final
judgment for an offense involving
moral turpitude or for an offense
punishable by one (1) year or more
of imprisonment, within two (2) years
after serving sentence;
(b) Those removed from office as a
result of an administrative case;
(c) Those convicted by final
judgment for violating the oath of
allegiance to the Republic;
(d) Those with dual citizenship;
(e) Fugitives from justice in criminal or
non-political cases here or abroad;
(f) Permanent residents in a foreign
country or those who have acquired
the right to reside abroad and
continue to avail of the same right
after the effectivity of this Code; and
(g) The insane or feeble-minded.
Sec. 78. Petition to deny due course
to or cancel a certificate of
candidacy. - A verified petition
seeking to deny due course or to
cancel a certificate of candidacy
may be filed by the person
exclusively on the ground that any
material representation contained
therein as required under Section 74
hereof is false. The petition may be
filed at any time not later than
twenty-five days from the time of the
filing of the certificate of candidacy
and shall be decided, after due
notice and hearing, not later than
fifteen days before the election.
Respondent tallado’s suspensioin
from office for 1 yr w/o pay together
with accessory penalties
Found guilty of oppression and
grave abuse of authority by the
ombusman
We held that two conditions must
concur for the application of the
disqualification of a candidate
based on violation of the three-term
limit rule, which are:
(1) that the official concerned has
been elected for three consecutive
terms in the same local government
post, and
(2) that he has fully served three
consecutive terms. 23
In this case, while respondent ran as
Governor of Camarines Norte in the
2007 elections, he did not win as
such. It was only after he filed la
petition for correction of manifest
error that he was proclaimed as the
duly-elected Governor. He assumed
CASE No. 3

the post and served the unexpired

term of his opponent from March 22,
2010 until June 30, 2010.
Consequently, he did not hold the
office for the full term of three years
to which he was supposedly entitled
to. Thus, such period of time that
respondent served as Governor did
not constitute a complete and full
service of his term. The period when
he was out of office involuntarily
interrupted the continuity of his
service as Governor.26 As he had
not fully served the 2007-2010 term,
and had not been elected for three
consecutive terms as Governor,
there was no violation of the three-
term limit rule when he ran again in
the 2016 elections.

An involuntary interrupted term,

cannot, in the context of the
disqualification rule, be considered
as one term for purposes of counting
the three term threshold.

Applying the foregoing in the instant

case, since Respondent did not
serve the full 2007-2010 term, it
cannot be considered as one term
for purposes of counting the three-
term threshold. Consequently,
Respondent cannot be said to have
continuously served as Governor for
three consecutive terms prior to the
2016 elections.