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Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Lawsuit poised over missing election returns
By Linette C. Ramos and Gingging A. Campaña
CEBU CITY -- Six election returns from Cebu City remained missing Monday, prompting the opposition camp to complain why the winning candidates were proclaimed when the returns were not canvassed yet.
City election officer for the north district Simaco Labata admitted that the six election returns have not been found yet, but these would not affect the results of the May 10 polls in the city.
Even if all 1,200 votes from the six precincts were counted in favor of candidates from the opposition party Kugi Uswag Sugbo (Kusug), the results will be the same, he said.
Assuming that each of the six poll precincts had a maximum of 200 voters, a total of 1,200 votes were not canvassed.
Based on the results from 2,409 precincts in the city, the Board of Canvassers (BOC) proclaimed as winners all candidates of the administration party Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) last Sunday afternoon.
"Under Comelec rules, if there are lost election returns and if these can't affect the results of the election, the BOC may terminate the canvassing and proclaim the winners," said Labata, the BOC chairman in the city.
"So, what we did was in accordance with the law. The returns are missing but it's not a big issue," he said.
Labata said the board of election inspectors in the six precincts must have placed the election returns inside the ballot boxes, which were already brought to the City Treasurer's Office at the City Hall.
He added that it would be useless to find the election returns and canvass them because the winning candidates were already proclaimed.
But Kusug campaign consultant and lawyer Avenescio Piramide said that Labata erred in his decision.
He alleged that disregarding the six election returns is a clear indication of Labata's bias for BO-PK.
Piramide also said they will study what legal action they will take against Labata and the other members of the BOC.
"That was not correct. It was not okay to go ahead with the proclamation without the six returns because it can still affect the results. He's just showing his bias for BO-PK," he told Sun.Star.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña visited the Cebu Normal University convention hall yesterday to check on how the Board of Canvassers was doing with the remaining election returns for canvassing of votes for national candidates.
Osmeña, with a fresh mandate, is asking the Cebuanos to understand his views on "reconciling with former mayor Alvin Garcia."
"Because from the very beginning they have been using people like Stephen Osmeña (in 2001) and Ramiro Madarang Sr. to deceive the people and smear our reputation. But I'm not closing my doors because they have degenerated into non-political entities," he told reporters.
Between now and June 30, when another fiscal year enters, the reelected mayor will spend time pursuing all his cases against Garcia and Sun.Star Cebu.
Osmeña was referring to the Ramos public market, which was demolished in 1998, the condominium project on N. Bacalso Ave. and the "missing asphalt."
In a separate interview, Garcia welcomed the mayor's plan, adding that the court will be a good venue to ventilate these issues.
Osmeña said he will also be doing a "serious indoctrination of incoming councilors and attend to solidifying the backbone" of his political group.
"It's not just another political alliance and we have a lot to thresh out basic principles and management strategy," Osmeña said.
But questions over the elections results remain.
Piramide said his wife Carmelita's total number of votes, 64,086, is very close to eighth placer Augustus "Jun" Pe, who got 65,644 votes.
But Labata said that even if all 1,200 votes were counted in favor of Piramide, Pe would still win with a margin of 358 votes. Piramide ranked ninth while Pe ranked eighth in the councilorial race in the city's north district.
As for the senatorial race in Cebu City, BO-PK's exclusion of Cebuano senatorial candidate John "Sonny" Osmeña seems to have worked.
The final results of the canvassing of Comelec Cebu City Monday showed that Osmeña only ranked thirteenth place, with a total of 104,680 votes.
President Arroyo also won in the city, with a total of 220,060 votes. Poe ranked second with only 58,591 votes.
The BO-PK will hold a street party in Fuente Osmeña immediately after President Arroyo takes her oath of office in Manila on June 30.
With Arroyo's visit in Cebu, Mayor Osmeña said they will try to make the event a combination of a miting de avance and Sugbayanihan, a world record breaking attempt for the longest barbecue grill that took place last January along Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.
Osmeña has invited the President to administer the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected Cebu City officials.
He initially wanted the rites held at the South Reclamation Project, but later suggested Fuente Osmeña.
Meanwhile, in a press statement and signed affidavit faxed to Sun.Star Monday, radio commentator Joefrey Quiñones alleged that he received a fake P1,000 bill from BO-PK supporters who asked him to vote straight for K4 and BO-PK candidates.
Quiñones is one of the four media practitioners whom Rep. Antonio Cuenco accused of asking money and soliciting funds from him and the other Cebuano congressmen.
He alleged that the money was placed inside a yellow card and was delivered to his house last May 9. But when he tried to pay a department story using the bill, he was told that it was fake.
Quiñones is said to be in Manila and will stand as one of Poe's witnesses against the complaints of massive vote-buying against Arroyo.
(May 18, 2004 issue)
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