39 votes save aspiring chief

Saturday, February 4, 2012

BARANGAY Calamba in Cebu City has a new captain.

The court yesterday declared Esther Concha as “the winner and duly elected punong barangay” of Calamba during the October 2010 elections.

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Concha edged out Victor Quijano, the sitting village chief, by 39 votes after the recount by the court-formed revision committee.

“In sum, after the revision and appreciation of all the contested ballots, the total votes garnered by (protestant Esther) Concha is 2,539, as against (protestee Victor) Quijano of 2,500 votes,” Judge Monalila Tecson said in her decision.

Concha and her supporters, elated by the decision, said they will file a motion for execution pending appeal.

Before the decision was handed down yesterday afternoon, Quijano’s counsel, Carlo Fortuna, attempted to stop the promulgation, citing the petition for certiorari they filed before the Supreme Court (SC) last Monday.

The petition asked for a preliminary injunction from the SC to stop yesterday’s promulgation.

But Tecson, presiding judge of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 1, turned down Fortuna’s manifestation.

She said the promulgation of decision was long overdue and that she could be held administratively liable if the election protest was resolved late.

Atty. Fortuna said they will also appeal the decision before the SC. Their camp believes the trial court has no jurisdiction to hear the election protest.

Quijano and Concha ran for barangay captain in the October 2010 elections, and the former was declared a winner by 81 votes. Concha filed the election protest and asked for a recount.

The MTCC went on with the recount but was halted because of the petition for certiorari filed by Quijano at the Commission on Elections (Comelec). It was based on a technicality.

Quijano argued that there was “a defect” in the verification of Concha that can no longer be corrected.

But the Comelec en banc, chaired by Commissioner Sixto Brillantes Jr., directed Judge Tecson to proceed with hearing the election protest, as a petition for certiorari is not the appropriate pleading to question the defect.

In the decision, Judge Tecson pointed out that the results of the tabulation per precinct showed the number of votes for both Quijano and Concha increased, despite the deductions of “marked ballots”.

Judge Tecson also ordered Quijano to pay Concha P10,000 as attorney’s fees and P5,000 as litigation expenses.