ORION, Bataan — This is a record-breaking political history perhaps in the whole country: Incumbent Mayor Antonio Raymundo, now on his fourth term, filed on Tuesday his Certificate of Candidacy for a fifth consecutive term in this town.

Mayor Raymundo filed personally his CoC before Comelec officer Arsenia Bundoc, together with his running mate Rex Fuster, now on his third consecutive term.

Sources close to the mayor said that Raymundo was made to believe that he is still qualified to run for mayor for a 5th consecutive term after he was preventively suspended by Ombudsman during his 3rd term as mayor, disrupting his term.

In his fourth term as mayor, Raymundo was contested before the Comelec and a Regional Trial Court of Bataan. But both, Comelec and the RTC ruled in favor of Raymundo that his term was interrupted.

During Raymundo’s term, Orion had become one of the most progressive towns in Bataan.

A town mayor who requested anonymity and a close ally of Raymundo said that Raymundo has earlier sought the legal opinion of former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo. Panelo opined that Raymundo is still qualified to run as his term was disrupted.

But Section 8, Article X of the 1987 Constitution provides that:

"No local elective official shall serve for more than three consecutive terms in the same position. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of service for the full term for which the elective official concerned was elected under Section 8, Article X of the 1987 Constitution."