PAMIL v TELERON A priest, Father Margarito Gonzaga, was elected municipal mayor of Albuquerque, Bohol.

One of the losing candidates filed a petition to have him disqualified based on the Admin Code provision saying that ecclesiastics shall not be appointed to a municipal office. The lower court sustained the right of Fr. Gonzaga to the office, saying that such statutory ineligibility was impliedly repealed by the Election Code of 1971. Held: Lower court decision overturned. Seven SC justices believed the lower courts judgment should be affirmed because the challenged provision was no longer operative, either because it was superseded by the 1935 Constitution or repealed. But five believed that the prohibition was against priests running for elective office was constitutional. Because eight votes were needed to render the provision ineffective, the SC had to apply the presumption of validity and overturn the lower courts decision.