By Tracy Cabrera

CEBU CITY, Cebu — Beleaguered Mandaue City mayor Jonas Cortes criticized the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in its decision to cancel his certificate of candidacy (CoC) for next year's midterm elections, calling it "a big mistake."

The Comelec's Second Division ruled the cancelation of Cortes's candidacy based on the complaint petition filed by lawyer Ervin Estandarte, where it stated that Cortes had committed 'material misrepresentation' by not declaring in his CoC his dismissal order from the Ombudsman and falsely declaring his eligibility to run for reelection as mayor of Mandaue City.

But Cortes slammed the decision, alleging that it was politically motivated and was orchestrated to remove him from the mayoral race, so he has vowed to fight it 'tooth and claw'.

"Last night, I received the decision from Comelec canceling my certificate of candidacy. Their reason is that I am no longer qualified to run due to the case of dismissal and disqualification," the dismissed mayor noted in Cebuano.

"This is a big mistake by the Comelec because the Ombudsman's decision is not yet final and is still in the appeal process," he added.

It was on October 3 (the current year) that the Office of the Ombudsman issued a dismissal order against him, citing his failure to issue a cease-and-desist order against an unlicensed batching plant that operated in his jurisduction as then local chief executive from 2020 to 2022.

Cortes filed his candidacy the following day, marking with an 'N/A', or not applicable', the sections therein that asked about pending cases in court.

The Comelec agreed to this, citing Sections 74 and 78 of the Omnibus Election Code, which require candidates to truthfully declare their qualifications.

"Respondent's declaration in his COC, which constitutes his qualifications for mayor, is material and false, considering he misrepresented the fact that he is no longer qualified to run for office," the Comelec's Second Division stated.

Cortes, however, insisted that the Ombudsman's dismissal order is still under appeal and not final, making the Comelec's ruling on the cancellation of his COC invalid.