Tuesday, July 10, 2007 At last: Benhur by 104 votes
AFTER almost two months of waiting, several changes in the members of the board of canvassers, tension filled count and legal maneuvering by both sides, the Bogo canvass was officially completed last night resulting in Benhur Salimbangon’s proclamation as winner in the fourth district congressional race.
Also proclaimed by the Provincial Board of Canvassers through Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Castillano were Jose Ma. Gastardo and Joven Mondigo Jr. as fourth district Provincial Board members.
“I’m relieved. For so many days nagsige ra gyod ko og ampo. Thank God it’s all over,” Salimbangon, who won by a margin of only 104 votes, said.
The special board of canvassers, however, proceeded with the canvass without lawyers of Salim-bangon’s opponent, Celes-tino “Tining” Martinez III, in the morning and with only Carlo Martinez, Tining’s brother, in the afternoon and until the last election return (ER) was counted in the evening.
Lawyer Eddie Aba, head of the special board of canvassers, said that when the board went on recess the previous day, the understanding was that the lawyers will be informed through text messaging on the time they will reconvene.
But at least one of Martinez’s lawyers, Inocencio de la Serna, claimed in a radio dyLA interview that he was not informed about the board reconvening, sparking speculations they will question yesterday’s proceedings because they were not notified and the Martinez camp was not represented.
Aba insisted, though, that the lawyers were informed, with election watcher Munard Maguinsay even relaying to him earlier in the day that Martinez’s lawyers will only be late.
Maguinsay was present when the board reconvened in the morning.
Resolved in the proceedings was the question on what to do with the remaining four missing ERs from precincts 62A, 19D, 119B and 117A, with the commotion in Bogo (see separate story) and the surfacing of one ER discovered in a ballot box at the Comelec 7 office playing a factor in resolving it.
When the board reconvened in the morning, copies of ERs from precincts 62A, 19D and 119B submitted by C-Cimpel were counted provisionally pending the arrival of the four ballot boxes that Aba earlier ordered Comelec people in Cebu to retrieve from Bogo.
The count using C-Cimpel’s copy of the three ERs, which further reduced Salimbangon’s lead over Martinez from 345 votes to only 179 votes, was officially tallied in the afternoon after Tining’s father, Celestino II, resisted Comelec efforts to retrieve the ballot boxes.
That left the board with only ER 117D stalling the canvass.
At around 7 p.m., however, election assistant Carla Espina of Comelec 7 reported the discovery of a copy of the ER stuffed in a ballot box marked 117D placed at the regional office.
To recall, the canvassing was transferred first from Bogo then to the Provincial Capitol building and then to the Comelec regional office, after which 15 ERs later declared as spurious were brought to Comelec Manila.
Most of the Bogo ballot boxes also ended up at the Comelec 7 office.
The counting of ER 117D reduced even further Salimbangon’s lead over Martinez to only 104 votes, leading to his proclamation at around 9 p.m. last night. MBG)
