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Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Court upholds Calderon win over Abines
By Minerva B. Gerodias
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Regional Trial Court of Oslob upheld Peter John Calderon’s win over John Carl Abines as town mayor of Samboan, Cebu by a margin of 127 votes.
In his 27-page decision yesterday, Judge Jesus de la Peña also ordered Abines to pay litigation expenses of P20,000 and another P20,000 for attorney’s fees.
After its initial recount, the court declared that Abines had 3,618 uncontested votes while Calderon garnered 3,681 votes.
The court added one vote in favor of Abines but also added two votes in Calderon’s favor.
Abines filed an election protest after Calderon was declared the elected mayor of Samboan during the May 14, 2001 elections.
Abines alleged that the votes that were supposed to be his were credited to Calderon, making him win the election.
However, after the recount, 63 votes were deducted from Abines, after the court considered these as “stray” or “invalid.”
In the final result of the recount, Abines got 3,556 votes while Calderon garnered 3,683 votes.
During the recount, most of the votes for Calderon were fewer than the votes he got in the election returns.
But the court noted that the number of missing ballots tally with the difference of Calderon’s votes in the election returns and the revision report.
“The court wonders when it observed and found out that the missing ballots pertain to the votes of (Calderon) reducing his votes down to the level equal or almost equal to the votes of (Abines),” the decision states.
The court had to refer to the votes in the election returns, tally sheets, tally board and election register, as it could not give credence to results from precincts with missing ballots.
Citing jurisprudence of Torres vs. House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and Lenas vs. HRET, the court said that “where the ballots cannot be produced or are not available, the election returns would be the best evidence.”
In the same decision, the court dismissed the election protest filed against the Municipal Council members and against Vice Mayor Pepito Calderon for lack of evidence. With Jeanette P. Malinao
(December 10, 2003 issue)
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