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Monday, May 28, 2007
Misamis Oriental poll protests pending in courts
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Three election protests from the towns of El Salvador, Balingasag and Villanueva, all in the province of Misamis Oriental, are now pending at the local courts.
Regional Executive Judge Jose Escobido said the new Rules of Procedure on Election Contests would govern poll cases before the courts involving elective barangay and municipal officials.
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The new governing rule, which was deemed effective as of May 15, 2007, provides that all election protests should be resolved within six months or the judge will be administratively sanctioned. That is, unless the High Tribunal grants an extension.
It also raised the cost of recounting of ballots from P500 to P1,000 per precinct or not less than P25,000 among other expenses exclusive of the P3,000 filing fee and other charges.
There are only three regional trial court judges who are authorized to settle electoral protests -- Executive Judge Escobido, Judge Gil Bollozos, and Judge Jeffrey Acebedo.
Last Wednesday, El Salvador mayoralty candidate Nilo Pates filed an election protest against proclaimed mayor Melit Almirante.
Pates, who will be represented by lawyers Mateo Delegencia and Wilfredo Labuntog, accused Almirante of cheating. Almirante won by only 211 votes over Pates.
The case was raffled to the sala of Judge Acebedo.
In Balingasag, mayoral candidate Carousel Borromeo filed an election protest against mayor elect Alexis Quina. Quina is the incumbent vice mayor while Borromeo's husband, Felix, is the incumbent mayor.
Borromeo got 12,425 votes while Quina got 12,720 votes or a mere difference of 295 votes.
She is asking for a recount of the ballots for all the 186 precincts in her town.
"The protestee (Quina) and his sympathizers and supporters were engaged in massive cheating by way of filling up fake or spurious ballots in his favor, surreptitiously placed inside the ballot boxes or discreetly given to the BEI to be included in the counting of votes," her protest reads.
Borromeo hired the services of lawyers Roy Lago Salcedo, Chonita Lara, and Wilfredo Labuntog.
She claimed the BEIs in 186 precincts "misread, misappreciated, or misadjudicated the ballots" in 186 precincts.
Villanueva's mayoral bet Josefa Neri also filed an election protest against reelected mayor Juliet Uy.
Neri said her supporters shelled out and donated the filing fees and other expenses so she could file the case.
"They have employed all sorts of electoral fraud from vote buying, lansadera, and allowing some people to sign in names when their computerized photos don't match, there was also ballot box snatching, among many others," she said in the dialect.
Neri said she has already hired the services of lawyer Butch Bagabuyo and they will be questioning election results from all 91 precincts in their town.
She said that though Uy won over her by some 4,000 votes in the May 14, 2007 elections, still, she is hopeful that the electoral protest would be resolved in her favor.
"Kay gi-unsa man gyud nila pag-kuha nga 10-0 gyud nga wala gyuy nakadaug gikan sa gawas ilaha ra tanan nga kandidato (For it is very questionable as to how they got a 10-0 victory with no candidate from the other party winning any post)."
She added that Uy has already cut off the water supply of those who supported her in the recent poll race. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (May 28, 2007 issue)
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