Friday, November 15, 2002
Fraud in Naga poll: 49 cast 7T ballots
CEBU -- The PNP Crime Laboratory has confirmed there were indeed some anomalies in the May 2001 mayoral elections in Naga, Cebu.
In a two-page report to the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Romeo Varona, the crime laboratory document examiner, said 49 people cast a total of 7,112 ballots in different precincts of the southern municipality.
Varona's report, which will be tackled in a hearing before RTC Judge Enriquieta Belarmino on Nov. 21, does not reveal, however, who the ballots were cast in favor of.
It was defeated aspirant Paulino Ong who filed the case against incumbent Naga Mayor Ferdinand Chiong.
Varona said in his report that the 7,112 ballots can be categorized into 49 groups, with each ballot in a group having "fundamental similarities, formation and other handwriting characteristics" with each other.
The handwriting analysis on the ballots was made in relation to the election protest Ong filed last year.
Ong said Chiong, who won in all precincts, fabricated the ballots to insure a landslide.
In his election protest, Ong marked a total of 7,173 as having been fabricated.
"Out of the 7,173 contested ballots, 7,112 contested ballots were written by 49 persons and the remaining 61 contested ballots were not examined due to lack of legibility for examination," Varona's report, noted by Crime Laboratory Regional Chief Nestor Sator, read.
The ballots were received by the crime laboratory by batches, with one submitted in December last year, and the rest in February, May, June and August this year.
The ballots were submitted for examination by lawyer Danilo Yap, Ong's counsel, with the examination completed last Nov. 7.
Based on Varona's report, one person filled up as many as 228 ballots, while another filled up as many as 225.
How the ballots got into the ballot box was not discussed.
Ong's election protest was originally filed separately but got consolidated with the protests filed by defeated vice mayoral aspirant Magdaleno del Mar against Valdemar Chiong and the members of their councilor slate because the contested ballots were one and the same.
The case was raffled off to RTC Branch 57, which Judge Isaias Dicdican presided over until the Supreme Court (SC) appointed RTC Judge Belarmino as permanent presiding judge.
Belarmino is scheduled to hear the case today and act on Ong's pending motion to have an early resolution of the incident.
To say that the political situation in Naga is hot would be to make an understatement.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Regional Director Salud Aligana, in an earlier interview, once described the situation as a "personal" competition between Ong and Chiong, his nephew.
In 1992, then mayor Ong ran for reelection as an ally of then governor Lito Osmeņa.
Chiong ran against him, but Ong went on to win.
They met head to head in 1995. Still, Ong prevailed. In 1998, Ong, who was no longer eligible for reelection, ran for vice mayor under Promdi, with his brother Lito for mayor.
Chiong, who was then with Lammp, challenged Lito.
A source said Chiong was successful in his bid to become mayor, but only because Ong was not his competitor. Ong, apparently still popular, won as vice mayor, the only person in the ticket to win a seat.
The involvement of other politicians, gunning for higher positions, is also a factor in the traditional turbulence of elections in Naga because the town has the second largest voting population among Cebu's 47 municipalities: 38,387. KNR/Sun.Star Cebu |
Arrest of 'bomber' foils new threats: Arroyo
