THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified Albay Governor Noel E. Rosal from this year’s elections for approving cash aid to tricycle drivers in April, when there was a spending ban.
In a 12-page resolution on Sept. 19, the Comelec First Division said Mr. Rosal, who was the incumbent Mayor of Legazpi, Albay, violated the law when he authorized the program.
He had argued that the payout was only a continuation of a social assistance program of Legazpi City.
Comelec noted that the cash aid is considered a social welfare and development activity prohibited by law.
“Nowhere in the law does it state that a continuing social welfare and development project is excluded from the prohibition,” according to the ruling written by Election Commissioner Aimee P. Ferolino.
Mr. Rosal, who won this year’s gubernatorial race, did not immediately reply to a Facebook message seeking comment. — John Victor D. Ordoñez