SEC. 12. Disqualifications.

— Any person who has been declared by competent

authority insane or incompetent, or has been sentenced by final judgment for
subversion, insurrection, rebellion, or for any offense for which he has been sentenced
to a penalty of more than eighteen months or for a crime involving moral t u r p i t u d
e , shall be disqualified to be a candidate and to hold any office, unless he has been
given plenary pardon or granted amnesty.

The disqualifications to be a candidate herein provided shall be deemed removed

upon the declaration by competent authority that said insanity or incompetence had
been removed or after the expiration of a period of five years from his service of
sentence, unless within the same period he again becomes disqualified.

Section 12 of the Code applies only to elective officials other than local elective
officials. The disqualification contemplated in Sec. 12 of the Code refers to a final
conviction of any of the crimes therein enumerated that exists before the election,
which is a ground to disqualify a person to be a candidate or to cancel his certificate
of candidacy Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code should be harmonized with
Section 68 thereof.

Moral Turpitude

What are crimes involving Moral Turpitude?

In general, all crimes of which fraud or deceit is an element or those which are
inherently contrary to rule of right conduct, honesty or morality in a civilized
community

They include such offenses BB estafa, falsification of public document, smuggling,

bribery, murder, bigamy, abduction, seduction, concubinage and violation of B.P. Big.
22.

Qualifications for office are continuing, and loss thereof by a candidate before
election is a ground for his disqualification or annulment of his certificate of candidacy.
If loss of qualification occurs after election, the officer may, at any time during his term,
be removed from office upon proper petition filed by an interested party

Example:
Qualifications for elective office, such as citizenship, are continuing requirements;
once any of them is lost during incumbency, title to the office itself is deemed forfeited.
Thus, if a candidate is not a citizen at the time he ran for office or if he lost his
citizenship after his election to office, he is disqualified to serve as such. The loss of
qualifications during incumbency does not automatically operate to remove the
officer from the service. The appropriate action must be filed against him to oust him
from office.

The loss of qualifications during incumbency does not automatically operate to

remove the officer from the service. The appropriate action must be filed against him
to oust him from office. To successfully challenge a winning candidate's qualifications,
the petitioner must clearly demonstrate that the ineligibility is so patently antagonistic
to constitutional and legal principles that overriding such ineligibility and thereby
giving effect to the apparent will of the people would ultimately create greater
prejudice to the very democratic institutions

2. Power of the Congress to prescribe disqualification

Apart from the qualifications provided for in the Constitution, Congress has the power,
consistently with the constitutional provisions, to prescribe grounds for disqualification
therefrom.

Effect of disqualification

- He is ineligible

- His election to office is null and void.

if a candidate who does not possess the required qualifications or is otherwise

disqualified is ineligible, his election to office is null and void.

Meaning of Ineligible:

legally or otherwise disqualified to hold office; disqualified to be elected to an office;

or disqualified to hold an office if elected .
A candidate is ineligible if he is disqualified to be elected to office, and he is
disqualified if he lacks any of the qualifications for elective office.

Thus, where a candidate is underage, the fact that he obtained the highest number
of votes does not make his election valid, nor render the age qualification merely
directory as to him.

LOCAL ELECTIVE OFFICIALS

Local elective officials administratively guilty are disqualified

The rule is that removal cannot extend beyond the term during which the alleged
misconduct is committed. If a public official is not removed before his term he can no
longer be removed if he is thereafter reelected for another term

The disqualification provided for in Section 40 of the Local Government has no

retroactive effect. If at the time a candidate files his certificate of candidacy the
administrative case against him is pending, or no final decision has been rendered, it
will not operate to disqualify him from running. His election or re-election will amount
to a condonation of the officer's previous administrative misconduct .

DUAL ALLEGIANCE

Unlike those with dual allegiance, who must, therefore, be subject to strict process with
respect to the termination of their status, for candidates with dual citizenship, it should
suffice if, upon the filing of their certificates of candidacy, they elect Philippine
citizenship to terminate their status as persons with dual citizenship considering that
their condition is the unavoidable consequence of conflicting laws of different state

FUGITIVE OF JUSTICE

Intent to evade on the part of a candidate must be established by proof that there
has already been a conviction or at least, a charge has already been filed, at the
time of flight. He is not a fugitive from justice when, at the time of departure from
abroad to the Philippines, there is yet no complaint filed against him abroad
SEC. 68. Disqualifications. —

Section 68 of the Code should be read and construed in relation to Sec. 72 thereof
and to Sec. 6 of R.A. 6646, they being in pari materia. Section 72 of the Code and Sec.
6 of R.A. 6646

Distinguish SEction 12 and Section 68

The disqualification contemplated in Sec. 12 of the Code refers to a final conviction of

any of the crimes therein enumerated that exists before the election, which is a
ground to disqualify a person to be a candidate or to cancel his certificate of
candidacy

The disqualification under Sec. 68 refers to a violation of any of the election offenses
therein specified, filed before the election against a candidate finding him guilty
thereof either before or after the election.