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Thursday, April 06, 2006
Mayor's plea to stop recall rejected
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has denied for lack of merit the motion for reconsideration filed earlier by Mayor Braulio Yaranon to stop the petition for his recall.
In a memorandum issued to Comelec Regional Director Armando Velasco and City Election Officer Maribelle Uminga, the commission directed both the officials "to take preferential actions on the petition for recall, and to accord due process and democratic participative opportunity to the official sought to be recalled, particularly on the verification and authentication of the signatures of the petitioners."
The Comelec Finance Services Department was also ordered to "first certify with specifity as to the availability of funds for the preliminary activities, particularly on the verification or authentication of signatures of the petitioners and the conduct of the recall election."
The Comelec explained this to prevent a repeat of the 2003 recall election controversies against Governors Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez and Leandro Verceles Jr. of Antique and Catanduanes, respectively, in which the petitioners ran the entire gamut of the recall process only to be frustrated by the non-availability of funds of the commission to hold the recall election itself.
"It is thus imperatively necessary that while the recall is pursued to its end, there is an assurance as to the availability of funds so as not to put to naught the time and effort exerted not only by the petitioners and respondent, their expenses incurred, but also the commission in the review and evaluation, not only of this instant petition for recall, but of all the other petitions now filed with the commission," the Comelec added.
Yaranon, meanwhile, said he cannot comment on the memorandum yet since he still has to receive a copy of the document. "However, that should have been thrown overboard long ago because even the Comelec found out that there was falsification and fraud involved in the fabrication of that petition," he said.
"If only 50 or 100 (names of petitioners) were found to have been forged, it could be attributed to a mere error. However, in that magnitude, after finding out that 14,000 names of voters not registered in Baguio were included, it should have been denied outright," he added.
Velasco said they would deliver Yaranon's copy of the Comelec decision Thursday. "The City Election Office still has to officially transmit the mayor's copy to his office and then, we still have to set a date for the resumption of the signature verification afterwards," he said.
(April 6, 2006 issue)
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