Monday, May 21, 2007 Bogo’s count up for transfer again By Jeanette P. Malinao Sun.Star Staff Reporter With Mia E. Abellana
THE Capitol stayed quiet as the canvassing for Bogo did not resume yesterday, but a new board of canvassers was named after the original members were “arrested” Saturday night and brought to the Central Command at 2 a.m.
Sources said that Commission on Elections (Comelec) 7 Director Rey Buac stayed overnight at the military camp along with Gallardo Escobar, chairman of the Bogo board of canvassers and members Mohammad Abdulrashid and Genoveva Sevilla.
Lawyer Cristina Garcia, counsel for One Cebu-Kampi, said they will file today criminal charges against the three for “electoral sabotage,” the crime which lawyer Jojie Decal used as basis to arrest the three.
Last night, Comelec personnel said the three were staying at the regional office, while Garcia said they were being detained at the Centcom.
“Anyone who lets them escape will be guilty of obstruction of justice,” said Garcia.
Escobar, Abdulrashid and Sevilla already inhibited themselves from the canvassing of votes cast in Bogo.
As of last night, however, the Comelec Provincial Office has yet to receive a written notice about the new members of the board, where the canvassing will resume or when.
But a Comelec staff member said they got a call informing them that the canvassing will be moved to the regional office, and that the new chairman of the board will be Comelec 7 Acting Assistant Director Veronico Petalcorin, the concurrent provincial election supervisor of Bohol.
Lawyer Eddie Aba, acting provincial election supervisor of Negros Oriental, will be one of the two members.
Buac, before they went out of the Capitol social hall shortly before 2 a.m. yesterday, said they will move the canvassing to a “smaller place.”
The canvassing of Bogo’s votes at the Capitol social hall has been filled with legal objections from Benhur Salimbangon’s camp that the board dismissed.
Melee
Angry supporters mobbed Buac and the three members when they walked out of the Capitol building yesterday dawn. A throng of military and police personnel escorted them while Salimbangon’s supporters, who waited outside for several hours, shouted unpleasant things at them.
Because of the crowd, it took minutes for the Comelec officials to walk from the stairs of the Capitol to the parking area where their vehicles were waiting.
Cristina Garcia, however, said they will object to the transfer of canvassing.
“The main reason the canvassing was transferred to the Capitol is because of danger in Bogo and since the Capitol is a well-guarded area, there is no better place than here. The security at the Capitol is not the problem but the people doing the canvassing,” said Garcia.
She added that no matter who will do the canvassing or where it will be held, their main contention would still remain: some election returns in Bogo were manufactured.
The first step that must be done to move on with the issue, she said, is to obtain the copy from C-Cimpel, but C-Cimpel told them they are just awaiting orders from the Comelec.
Proof
Second, she cited that Section 17 of the Electoral Reform Law provides that the certificate of votes signed by the board of election inspectors is admissible as evidence or proof of tampering.
But the board refused to recognize their certificate of votes and ruled that the documents have no probative value.
From yesterday morning until evening, only a few watchers were seen outside the old session hall where ballot boxes from Bogo are stored.
No lawyers showed up in the vicinity, and the front portion of the Capitol building was already free from both supporters and police from the crowd disturbance management team.
The whole day last Saturday, Salimbangon’s supporters could be seen facing off with the crowd control police at the Capitol’s main entrance.
By midnight, however, weariness sank in and both groups could be seen lying down on the Capitol grounds, sleeping next to one other.
Supporters were angered by reports there were attempts to sneak ballot boxes into the Bogo canvassing venue, when all the boxes were supposed to have been transferred in one batch, heavily guarded.
Transfer
There were 24 ballot boxes transported from the Bogo Municipal Hall to the Provincial Capitol last Wednesday.
Whether these were all the ballot boxes needed for the canvassing, Supt. Erson Digal admits he does not know.
Digal, who was assigned as the district’s supervisor during the elections, said that when the decision to transfer the canvassing to the Provincial Capitol reached him, all he did was facilitate the transfer.
Those at the municipal treasurer’s office were the ones who knew how many ballot boxes were there.
All 24 boxes were taken from the municipal session hall, the Comelec office and the municipal treasurer’s office and were placed in the truck.
The truck had 10 watchers each from the camps of Salimbangon and Bogo Mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III.
Before they were taken to the truck, Digal said a lawyer and four watchers from each camp were present to check on all the items.
Let go
The truck reached the Capitol at 9:10 p.m.
Asked if he knew how election assistant Mylene Pitogo ended up with one ballot box that she took home for safekeeping, Digal said he no longer knows.
Comelec ordered the transfer of the canvassing to the Capitol after tension gripped the canvassing in Bogo town, some 101 kilometers north of Cebu City.
Supporters of Salimbangon surrounded the Bogo Municipal Hall after they alleged the Martinez camp cheated.
The Martinezes, though, denied their claims and told Salimbagon to “let go” of innuendoes that they were cheating.
Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez, the congressional aspirant’s mother, pointed out that Salimbangon’s watchers were all over the town hall and would have noticed if they had tried to do anything wrong.
