February 15, 1993

PART VI
PROVISIONS GOVERNING ELECTION CONTESTS
AND QUO WARRANTO CASES BEFORE TRIAL COURT

Rule 35
Election Contests Before Courts of General Jurisdiction

      Section 1. Original Jurisdiction of Regional Trial Courts. - Regional trial courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over contests relating to the elections, returns and qualifications involving elective municipal officials.

      Sec. 2. Filing of Election Contests. - A petition contesting the election of any municipal official shall be filed with the proper Regional Trial Court or mailed at the post office as registered matter addressed to said Court, together with six (6) legible copies thereof, by any candidate for the same office who has duly filed a certificate of candidacy and who was voted in the election. Each contest shall refer exclusively to one office, but contests for offices of the Sangguniang Bayan may be consolidated in one case.

      Sec. 3. Period to File Petition. - The petition shall be filed within ten (10) days following the date of proclamation of the results of the election.

      Sec. 4. Designation of Parties. - The party bringing the action shall be designated as the Protestant, and the party against whom the action is brought shall be designated as the Protestee.

      Sec. 5. Duty of Clerk of Court to Issue Notice and Serve Copy of Petition. - It shall be the duty of the Clerk of Court of the trial court to serve notice and a copy of the petition by means of summons upon each respondent within five (5) days after the filing thereof.

      Sec. 6. Petition to be Verified. - All petitions shall be verified by the parties filing them or their attorneys. Any subsequent pleading based on facts which ought to be proved shall likewise be verified.

      Sec. 7. Answer, Reply, Counter-Protest and Protest in Intervention. -

1. Within five (5) days after receipt of notice of the filing of the petition and a copy of the petition, the respondent shall file his answer thereto specifying the nature of his defense, and serve a copy thereof upon the protestant. The answer shall deal only with the election in the precincts which are covered by the allegations of the protest.
   
   
2. Should the protestee desire to impugn the votes received by the protestant in other precincts, he shall file a counter-protest within the same period fixed for the filing of the answer, serving a copy thereof upon the protestant by registered mail or by personal delivery. In such a case, the counter-protest shall be verified.
   
   
3. The protestant shall answer the counter-protest within five (5) days after notice.
   
   
4. Within five (5) days from the filing of the protest, any other candidate for the same office may intervene in the case as other contestants and ask for affirmative relief in his favor by a verified petition in intervention, which shall be substantiated within the same proceeding. The protestant or protestee shall answer the protest-in-intervention within five (5) days after notice.
   
   
5. If no answer shall be filed to the protest, counter-protest or protest-in-intervention within the time limits respectively fixed, a general denial shall be deemed to have been entered.

      Sec. 8. Substantial and Formal Amendments of Pleadings. - After the case is set for hearing, no amendment to any pleading affecting the merits of the controversy shall be allowed except by leave of Court and only upon such grounds as will serve public interest. But such leave may be refused if it appears to the court that the motion to amend was made with intent to delay the action. Any amendment in matters of from may be permitted at any stage of the proceedings.

      Sec. 9. Filing Fee. - No protest, counter-protest, or protest-in-intervention shall be given due course without the payment of a filing fee in the amount of three hundred pesos (P300.00) for each interest.

      Each interest shall further pay the legal research fee as required by law.

      If a claim for damages and attorney's fees are set forth in a protest, counter-protest or protest-in-intervention, an additional filing fee shall be paid in accordance with the schedule provided for in the Rules of Court in the Philippines.

      Sec. 10. Cash Deposit. -

1. In any protest, counter-protest or protest-in-intervention not requiring ballot revision, the protestant, the counter-protestant, or intervenor, as the case may be, shall upon the payment of the filing fee, make a cash deposit in the amount of five hundred pesos (P500.00) which shall be applied to the payment of all expenses incidental to such protest, counter-protest or protest-in-intervention. When circumstances so warrant, additional cash deposits may be required. Any unused balance thereof shall be returned to the party making the deposit.
   
   
2. In case revision of ballots is required, there shall be deposited, within ten days after being required by the Court, the sum of three hundred pesos (P300.00) for every ballot box for the consumption of revisors at the rate of P100.00 each.
   
   
3. Failure to make the cash deposits herein provided within the prescribed time limit shall result in the automatic dismissal of the protest, counter-protest or protest-in-intervention, as the case may be.
   
   
4. In case the party who has paid the expenses and costs wins, the court shall assess, levy and collect the same as costs from the losing party.

      Sec. 11. Presentation and Reception of Evidence. - The presentation and reception of evidence in election contests shall be made in accordance with Section 2 of Rule 17 of these Rules, but the same shall be completed within thirty (30) days from the date of the commencement thereof.

      Sec. 12. Custody of Ballot Boxes, Election Documents and Paraphernalia. - Where allegations in a protests, or counter-protest or protest-in-intervention so warrant, or whenever in the opinion of the Court the interest of justice so demands, it shall immediately order the ballot boxes containing ballots and their keys, list of voters with voting records, books of voters, and other documents used in the election to be brought before it. Said election documents and paraphernalia shall be kept and held secure in a place to be designated by the Court in the care and custody of the Clerk of Court.

      Sec. 13. Revision of Ballots. - For the purpose of revision of ballots, the court shall appoint a committee composed of a chairman and two members, one member and his substitute to be proposed by the protestant, and the other member and his substitute by the protestee.

      The revision of the ballots by the Committee on revision shall be made in the office of the Clerk of Court or at such other place as may be designated by it, but in every case under the Court's strict supervision.

      The revision of the ballots shall be completed within twenty (20) days from the date of the order, unless otherwise directed by the Court, subject to the time limits prescribed under Sec. 11 and Sec. 17 of this Rule.

      Sec. 14. Book of Voters as Evidence. - The book of voters shall be conclusive evidence in regard to the question as to who has the right to vote in said election.

      Sec. 15. Report of the Committee on Revision. - The committee on revision shall make a statement of the condition in which the ballot boxes and their contents were found upon the opening of the same, classify the ballots so examined, and set forth clearly any objection that may have been offered to each ballot in the report to be submitted by it. Disputed ballots shall be numbered consecutively for purposes of identification in the presence and under the direction of the official designated by the Court. After examination, the ballots and other election documents shall be returned to their respective boxes, but disputed ballots shall be placed in a separate envelope duly sealed and signed by the members of the committee, after which said envelope shall then be returned to the box. Thereafter, the boxes shall be locked. For purposes of making the report which shall be submitted in twelve (12) legible copies, the form prescribed by the Commission shall be followed.

      Sec. 16. Prohibited Access. - During the revision of ballots no person other than the Judge, the Clerk of Court, members of the committee on revision of ballots, the parties, their duly authorized representatives shall have access to the place where said revision is taking place.

      Sec. 17. Decision on the Contest. - The Court shall decide the election contest within thirty (30) days from the date it is submitted for decision, but in every case within six (6) months after its filing and shall declare who among the parties has been elected, or in a proper case, the none of them has been legally elected. The party who in the judgment has been declared elected shall have the right to assume the office as soon as the judgment becomes final.

      In case the Court finds that the protestant, protestee or intervenor shall have an equal or highest number of votes, it shall order the drawing of lots by those who have tied and shall proclaim as elected the party who may be favored by luck, and the party so proclaimed shall have the right to assume office in the same manner as if he had been elected by plurality vote.

      Sec. 18. Damages and Attorney's Fees in Election Contests. - In all election contests, the court may adjudicate damages and attorney's fee as it may deem just and as established by the evidence if the aggrieved party has included such claims in his pleadings.

      Sec. 19. Promulgation and Finality of Decision. - The decision of the Court shall be promulgated on a date set by it of which due notice must be given the parties. It shall become final five (5) days after its promulgation. No motion for reconsideration shall be entertained.

      Sec. 20. Notice of Final Decision. - As soon as decision declaring the election of the winner becomes final, notice thereof shall be sent to the Commission on Elections, the Department of Local Government and the Commission on Audit. If the decision be that none of the parties has been legally elected, the Clerk of Court shall certify such decision to the President of the Philippines and to the Commission on Elections.

      Sec. 21. Appeal. - From any decision rendered by the court the aggrieved party may appeal to the Commission on Elections within five (5) days after the promulgation of the decision.

      Sec. 22. Preferential Disposition of Contests. - The courts shall give preference to election contests over all other cases, except those of habeas corpus.
 

	Rule 34	RULES OF PROCEDURE Table of Contents	Rule 36