6 poll protests filed before court

A TOTAL of six election protests have been filed before a municipal trial court in cities (MTCC) two weeks after October 25 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

Court records showed majority of the grounds for the protests were attributed to fraud in the conduct of election, irregularities in counting of the ballot boxes, uncounted votes by some precincts, and some election documents were allegedly been tampered.

Protesting candidates were from barangays of Leon Garcia in Agdao, Bankas Heights, Malabog in Paquibato, and Lumiad in Paquibato.

Records also showed that five out of the six cases filed before the MTCC were from the third district, particularly in Paquibato.

Most of the protesting candidates questioned the small margin of votes with the winning candidates.

Out of the six cases filed, four were filed by barangay captain aspirants.

In some areas, "dagdag bawas" or vote padding was allegedly prevalent especially in areas of the 3rd District.

Protesting candidates also rued the presence of "flying voters" in Tugbok district.

In most cases, the petitioners or the losing candidates demanded a recount of votes.

Lawyer Maria Fe Orig-Maloloy-on, clerk of MTCC, said the dispensing of cases filed before MTCC usually take less time although she admits that "mahal masyado mag-file ng election protest (filing election protest is very expensive)."