Lynette Garvida vs Florencio Sales, Jr.

authentic and was originally signed by the party and his

counsel.
Petitioner Garvida ran for SK Chairman in Illocos Norte.
The petition is dismissed. Pero, gi declare gihapon sa
When she applied for registration as member and voter of COMELEC nga ineligible si Garvida for being over the age
the Katipunan ng Kabataan, the Board of Tellers denied her qualification.
application on the ground that the petitioner exceeded the
age limit for membership in the KK.

Petitioner filed a Petition for Inclusion as Registered

Kabataang Member and Voter – the court found the
petitioner qualified and ordered her registration as
member and voter of KK.

With that decision, the petitioner filed her COC for the
position of SK Chairman.

However, the Election Officer, per advice of the Provincial

Election Supervisor, disapproved petitioner’s COC again
due to her age.

Petitioner appealed to COMELEC Regional Director and

allowed the petitioner to run.

Her rival, Sales filed a Petition of Denial and/or Cancellation

of COC against Garvida for falsely representing her age
qualification in her COC. The petition was sent by facsimile
and registered mail to the National Office of the COMELEC.

The COMELEC en banc issued an order suspending the

proclamation of the petitioner in the event she won in the
election.

Garvida won in the election.

ISSUE: Whether or not the petition of denial and/or

cancellation of COC transmitted by facsimile constitute
compliance with the formal requirements of pleading under
the COMELEC Rules of Procedure.

RULING: No. The COMELEC Rules of Procedure provides

that all pleadings allowed by these Rules shall be printed,
mimeographed or typewritten on legal size bond paper and
shall be in English or Filipino in at least ten legible copies.
Pleadings must be filed directly with the proper Clerk of
Court of the COMELEC personally, or, by registered mail.

In the instant case, the subject petition was not in proper

form. Only two copies of the petition were filed with the
COMELEC.

Filing a pleading by facsimile transmission is not sanctioned

by the COMELEC Rules of Procedure, much less by the Rules
of Court. A facsimile is not a genuine and authentic
pleading.

Without the original, there is no way of determining on its

face whether the facsimile pleading is genuine and