THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila has ordered Cebu Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. to answer an election protest filed against him by vice gubernatorial candidate Glenn Soco.
The protest reportedly cited discrepancies in some tallies of the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines and the certificate of canvass.
Sanchez won a third straight term with a margin of 26,237 votes over Soco, a businessman and former Sangguniang Kabataan official who ran for provincial office for the first time.
Lawyer Oliveros Kintanar said he was surprised why the Comelec sent the summons to Tuburan, Cebu, when it is well known Sanchez holds office at the Capitol.
He said the Comelec ordered Sanchez to comment within five days upon receipt of the summons. The vice governor’s office received it last June 21 and referred it to Kintanar.
“The five-day period will end on Friday yet. I am confident we can file our answer before Friday,” Kintanar said.
Soco reportedly filed the protest immediately after Sanchez was proclaimed as reelected vice governor.
Neither the vice governor nor Soco could not be contacted for comment as of press time last night.
Lawyer Rory Jon Sepul-veda, Capitol consultant and One Cebu party spokesman, said the party consented to Soco’s plan to file a protest.
“It is right for the electorate to know who really won in the last election,” Sepulveda said.
He said the protest may resolve nagging questions about the first automated elections, including allegations of fraud in some contests.
Defeated candidates face the added pressure of time constraints.
The Comelec has previously said it is important to resolve protests, or at least recount questioned results, before the contract with Smartmatic-TIM expires at yearend. Smartmatic-TIM provided the vote-counting machines used for the first time in a Philippine election last May 10. (EOB/RRF.)