The Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division has dismissed the election protest filed by former Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia against incumbent Governor Pamela Baricuatro, citing that the protest was “insufficient in form and content.”
In a 24-page order dated Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, the Comelec First Division ruled that Garcia’s protest lacked the required “detailed specification of the acts or omissions complained of showing the electoral frauds, anomalies, or irregularities” across the 4,120 clustered precincts she contested. The ruling, which invoked Section 9(b), Rule 6 of Comelec Resolution 8804, mandates the summary dismissal of insufficient protests.
The order noted Garcia submitted only 40 judicial affidavits, with 35 from Mandaue City and none for the remaining 46 localities in Cebu. Citing the Supreme Court’s Marcos vs. Robredo ruling, the Comelec stated the “scant affidavits coupled with a perfunctory reading” suggested a clear lack of substantiation of fraud.
The allegations — including machine errors, paper jams, and rejected ballots — were deemed technical incidents covered by contingency procedures under Comelec Resolution 11101, not electoral fraud.
The order clarified that procedures exist for these issues, such as re-feeding a rejected ballot up to four times. Incidents noted in the affidavits, such as Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) failing to accept ballots in Mandaue, were therefore considered standard procedures.
Furthermore, the Comelec clarified that Garcia’s claims about undervotes and overvotes were previously attributed to “uncleaned data” — preliminary, unprocessed information — not fraud. The order noted that even if all alleged overvotes were hypothetically credited in Garcia’s favor, she would still be unable to overcome Baricuatro’s 342,873-vote lead. / CDF