THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) regional attorney Ferdinand Gujilde said should the late candidate lawyer Marie Velle "Amay" Abella win in the scheduled special recount of votes this September 16, 2021, her position is vacated subject to appointment of replacement.
However, asked of why there was a delay in the issuance of writ of execution of the Comelec First Division's ruling declaring Sherwin Luie Abella as nuisance candidate in the 2019 elections, Gujilde said he cannot answer "because it is with the Comelec En Banc in Manila, but one usual cause is clogged dockets, among others".
It can be recalled that Atty. Amay, who ran under the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan in the May 2019 elections filed a petition last October 2018 against the candidacy of a certain Sherwin Abella who ran as an independent candidate for the city council.
The late candidate argued that Sherwin has no means to conduct a city-wide campaign for the election as he, reportedly, is unemployed.
Sherwin was then declared as nuisance candidate by tge Comelec First Division and his certificate of candidacy was cancelled on June 28, 2019- more than a month after the elections.
Gujilde said the recount of votes will push through even if Atty. Amay Abella already died in order to determine the ranking.
The scheduled recount would possibly affect Cebu City Councilors Eugenio Gabuya, Jr., Renato Osmeña, Raul Alcoseba, and Philip Zafra, who were announced as winners with the rank of 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively in the 2019 elections.
Their proclamation as winners, however, has been nullified pending the special recount of votes in favor of Amay Abella by the special board of cancassers for Cebu City on Sept. 16 at the Comelec Session Hall in Intramuros, Manila.
Gujilde said the nullification of the proclamation of four councilors as winners is just a matter of procedure and whether it could affect their supposed performance in the council can be better addressed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government. (WBS)