Friday, May 04, 2007 Exec denies hiding ballots By Danilo V. Adorador III
A CITY treasurer in Cagayan de Oro denied his office was hoarding excess reserve ballot boxes, which the political opposition said might be used to rig the May 14 elections.
City Treasurer Lino Daral said there was not even a single reserve ballot box deposited at the city finance office inside City Hall, as alleged by the camp of lawyer Rufus Rodriguez, the opposition's congressional candidate in the second district.
Rodriguez had earlier prompted City Elections Registrar Stalin Baguio to seek clarification from Daral on the 246 extra ballot boxes, which are deposited along with the official ballot boxes for the city's 1,131 polling precincts.
Baguio obliged and in response, Daral explained that the 246 ballot boxes were not intended as "reserved" but are to be used by the Board of Election Canvassers for election returns bound for Manila.
To dispel any suspicion that the ballots are going to be used for election cheating, Baguio said he requested Daral to segregate the 246 ballot boxes in a separate room.
With locks provided by both the administration and opposition camps, the said ballot boxes were sealed in a separate storage Thursday.
