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The Supreme Court of the Philippines.The second placer in local elections cannot be proclaimed winner in lieu of the disqualified first placer, the Supreme Court has ruled, abandoning an earlier doctrine that it said had no legal basis.A legal expert sought for comment said the ruling, which cites the Local Government Code (LGC), does not apply to congressional candidates.The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has upheld the decision of the Comelec Second Division to annul the proclamation of Manila City 6th District Representative-elect Joey Chua Uy and to declare Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. as the rightful winner of the congressional race.In a 12-page resolution dated June 30, the Comelec en banc denied Uy’s motion for reconsideration.The Court hereby abandons the second-place rule and declares that the rules on succession under the LGC (Local Government Code) shall apply in all cases where a permanent vacancy results from a local elective official’s disqualification from office regardless of the proceedings involved,” the high court said in a 37-page decision on the case of Datu Pax Ali Mangudadatu v. Commission on Elections (Comelec), or G.R. Nos. 260219 and 260231.The high tribunal said this refers to the rules on succession under Section 44 of the LGC, which covers permanent vacancies in the offices of the governor, vice governor, mayor, and vice mayor, and Section 45, which applies to permanent vacancies in the sanggunian or councils.No law authorizes the proclamation of the second placer in the elections in case the candidate who received the most votes is disqualified or turned out to be ineligible,” the Supreme Court en banc said in the ruling promulgated on April 22 and made public on Friday.The decision was written by Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, with eight members of the high court voting in favor of abandoning the second-place rule, five to the contrary, and two having no part.