IN a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court ruled with finality that Estela Deloso-Antipolo shall be the new mayor of San Antonio, Zambales.

In a resolution of the SC en banc, signed by Atty. Enriqueta Vidal, it upheld its earlier decision holding that in the case of Aratea v. Commission on Elections (Comelec), Romeo D. Lonzanida’s certificate of candidacy was void ab initio ( invalid from the outset).

Because of this, Antipolo is left as the only qualified candidate who actually garnered the highest number of votes and should be proclaimed mayor of San Antonio, Zambales.

This ruling of the high court has overturned their previous doctrine that only the vice mayor can succeed to a disqualified candidate and not a supposed second placer.

It junked with finality the motion for reconsideration of Vice Mayor Efren Arathea to be the acting mayor of the said municipality and was ordered by the SC en banc to cease and desist immediately from handling the position.

“The Court Resolved to Deny With Finality the said motion for reconsideration as the basic issues raised therein have been passed upon by this court and no substantial arguments were presented to warrant the reversal of the said questioned decision,” the ruling avers.

In the main decision penned by Justice Antonio Carpio, the Court said that Comelec Resolution stated that the Commission had already ordered the cancellation of Lonzanida’s certificate of candidacy as early as February 18, 2012 and had stricken off his name in the list of official candidates for the mayoralty post of San Antonio, Zambales.

“Lonzanida’s disqualification is two-pronged: first, he violated the constitutional fiat on the three-term limit; and second, as early as December 1, 2009, he is known to have been convicted by final judgment for ten (10) counts of Falsification under Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code,” the ruling stated.

Antipolo should be proclaimed as the duly elected Mayor of San Antonio, Zambales as she remained as the sole qualified candidate for the mayoralty post and obtained the highest number of votes, the ruling added.

The Court further stressed the characterization of the violation of the three-term limit as one affecting the eligibility of a candidate saying that “election to and service of the same local elective position for three consecutive terms renders a candidate ineligible from running for the same position in the succeeding elections.”

On Lonzanida’s disqualification based on his conviction, the Court stated that “the conviction of Lonzanida by final judgment, with the penalty of prision mayor, disqualifies him perpetually from holding any public office, or from being elected to any public office.”