FACTS:

Petitioner Garvida applied for registration as member and voter of the Katipunan ng Kabataan of a certain barangay. However the Board of election tellers denied her application on the ground that she is already 21 years and 10 months old. She already exceeded the age limit for membership as laid down in Sec 3(b) of COMELEC resolution no. 2824.

The municipal circuit trial court found her to be qualified and ordered her registration as member and voter in the Katipunan ng Kabataan. The Board of Election Tellers appealed to the RTC, but the presiding judge inhibited himself from acting on the appeal due to his close association with petitioner.

However, private respondent Sales a rival candidate, filed with the COMELEC en banc a “Petition of Denial and/or Cancellation of Certificate of Candidacy” against Garvida for falsely representing her age qualification in her certificate of candidacy. He claimed that Garvida is disqualified to become a voter and a candidate for the SK for the reason that she will be more than twenty-one (21) years of age on May 6, 1996; that she was born on June 11, 1974 as can be gleaned from her birth certificate.

ISSUE:

Whether or not Garvida can assume office as the elected SK official

RULING:

In the case at bar, petitioner was born on June 11, 1974. On March 16, 1996, the day she registered as voter for the May 6, 1996 SK elections, petitioner was twenty-one (21) years and nine (9) months old. On the day of the elections, she was 21 years, 11 months and 5 days old. When she assumed office on June 1, 1996, she was 21 years, 11 months and 20 days old and was merely ten (10) days away from turning 22 years old. Petitioner may have qualified as a member of the Katipunan ng Kabataan but definitely, petitioner was over the age limit for elective SK officials set by Section 428 of the Local Government Code and Sections 3 [b] and 6 of Comelec Resolution No. 2824.

Thus, she is ineligible to run as candidate for the May 6, 1996 Sangguniang Kabataan elections.