Comelec lacks jurisdiction over Escolin’s usurpation complaint

By Felipe V. Celino

ROXAS CITY, Capiz — The Commission on Elections has no jurisdiction over the criminal complaint alleging usurpation of official functions filed against President Roxas Mayor Receliste “Tanoy” Escolin, a regional election official said.

Lawyer Wil Arceño, Capiz provincial election supervisor and concurrent assistant regional election director for Western Visayas, said the complaint filed by former Vice Mayor Alfonso Golero raises legal questions that fall under the authority of prosecutors and the courts.

Arceño said Comelec’s mandate is limited to election matters, including implementing its en banc ruling on the cancellation of Escolin’s certificate of candidacy and addressing election-related questions over who should assume the post.

Escolin said in an earlier media interview that he would answer Golero’s complaint.

Golero, the village chief of Barangay Cabug-cabug in President Roxas, filed the complaint before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Roxas City.

The complaint accused Escolin of usurpation of official functions under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.

Article 177 covers a person who performs an official act under the pretense of holding a government position without being lawfully entitled to do so.

The Comelec First Division canceled Escolin’s certificate of candidacy in a resolution dated July 11, 2025, citing material misrepresentation related to the constitutional three-term limit for local elective officials.

The division ruled that Escolin’s three-month suspension from office did not interrupt his term as mayor.

Escolin filed a motion for reconsideration, but the Comelec en banc denied it in a Jan. 20 resolution that was furnished to the parties Jan. 21.

In a separate quo warranto case, the Regional Trial Court ordered Escolin in November 2025 to vacate the mayoral post.

In a 20-page decision dated Nov. 10, 2025, Judge Joanne Marie Betita of RTC Branch 15 declared Escolin ineligible to seek reelection after serving three consecutive terms.

“Respondent Receliste ‘Tanoy’ Escolin is hereby found to be ineligible to run for Mayor of the Municipality of President Roxas, is hereby disqualified from holding said position,” the court stated.

The court ordered Escolin to stop performing the functions of mayor.

It also declared the mayoral post vacant and directed that it be filled under Section 44(a) of the Local Government Code, which governs permanent vacancies in elective local offices.

Former Sangguniang Bayan member Bart Locsin, one of Escolin’s three opponents in the May 2025 mayoral election, filed the quo warranto petition.

A quo warranto petition is a special civil action challenging a person’s legal authority to hold public office.

Escolin maintained that the RTC could not remove him because its decision was not yet final and executory.

Escolin won the May 2025 election with 9,893 votes, defeating Locsin, who received 7,787 votes; former Vice Mayor Botoy Asis, who received 317; and Von Geise, who received nine.

During a recent address at the President Roxas public plaza, Escolin thanked residents for their support throughout his decade in public service.

Escolin described his 10th State of the Municipality Address as a historic milestone.

He claimed to be the only municipal mayor in Capiz to have delivered 10 such addresses.

Golero said almost six months had passed since the Comelec en banc issued its resolution and that the Supreme Court had not issued a temporary restraining order as of July 10.

Golero argued that Escolin began unlawfully exercising the functions of mayor after he allegedly failed to obtain a temporary restraining order by Jan. 26.

Escolin was unavailable for further comment as of press time.