‘Disqualified’ Tarlac City mayor also faces possible 6-year imprisonment

TARLAC CITY — After issuing a disqualification order against Tarlac City Mayor Susan Yap-Sulit, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) also approved the filing of a criminal complaint against the embattled mayor.

In a recently released resolution, the Commission ordered “the filing of an INFORMATION against SUSAN ARENO YAP-SULIT before the proper Regional Trial Court for violation of Section 74 in relation to Section 262 of the Omnibus Election Code.”

Yap-Sulit’s case stems from her “material misrepresentation” in declaring her residence in her Certificate of Residency as “Immaculate Concepcion Subdivision, Barangay Tibag, Tarlac City,” an issue denied by the Barangay Council of Tibag, Tarlac City.

Based on the petition for disqualification filed by Tibag Barangay Chairman Jay-Ar Navarro, six barangay kagawad, and former Provincial Board Member Amado Deleon, COMELEC earlier issued an order stating: “Respondent (Susan Yap-Sulit) is INELIGIBLE to be elected as mayor of Tarlac City (due to not being a resident of Brgy. Tibag, Tarlac City).”

“The proclamation of MAYOR Susan Yap-Sulit is annulled,” the COMELEC order also said.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, “material misrepresentation” is a criminal offense punishable by up to six years imprisonment.

Once the criminal case is filed at the Regional Trial Court of Tarlac by the COMELEC Law Department, witnesses will include Deleon, Navarro, the six barangay kagawad of Barangay Tibag, and other barangay officials who submitted sworn statements in the petition for disqualification against Yap-Sulit.

In a published statement, Yap-Sulit said, “We have not received a copy of the COMELEC order, and once we receive the order, we will exert all legal remedies for truth to come out.”

Meanwhile, Navarro said the former warehouse claimed as Yap-Sulit’s residence is now fully renovated, with windows and doors installed and plants hastily planted outside the fence.

“But we documented the renovation works. We have video footage and pictures while the renovation was being done,” Navarro added.

The petition for disqualification presented pictures of the same “house,” showing it is a warehouse with no doors or windows, only roll-up doors where relief goods are stored.

“We know for a fact that Mayor Susan (Yap-Sulit) never resided in that warehouse. Only a blue guard ‘lives’ in the warehouse,” Navarro’s petition states.

Yap-Sulit is a former three-term governor of Tarlac and also served as congresswoman of Tarlac’s 2nd District from 2010 to 2016.

Her son, Christian Tell Areno Yap, is the newly elected governor after serving one term as representative of the 2nd District (2022–2025).

According to journalist Nelson Bolos, a member of the local media, “The renovation of the warehouse claimed by Mayor Susan (Yap-Sulit) is an attempt to hide the ugly truth that she literally lied on her residence.”