IN MANDAUE: Cabahug, Omolon contesting 10th slot

CEBU, Philippines - The tenth council seat in Mandaue City has not been filled up until now even though reelectionist Councilor Editha Cabahug has the numbers to claim the slot.

 Cabahug is leading rival John Vicor Omolon, who is allied with Mayor-elect Jonas Cortes, by 642 votes.

But Cabahug’s proclamation was stalled last Monday dawn after the counting of ballots because the Board of Canvassers failed to canvas the contents of one PCOS machine from barangay Subangdaku, which contains 681 ballots because the machine did not read the results.

The electronic counting of ballots proceeded last Thursday evening, with Cabahug getting 271 votes while Omolon garnering 243 votes from the precinct in Subangdaku.

It was clear that Cabahug enjoys a lead of 28 votes but again the proclamation did not push through.

Mandaue City Election officer Marchel Sarno said a decision was arrived at to proclaim Cabahug last Thursday evening, but an appeal filed by Omolon’s camp thwarted any proclamation.

Because of this, Sarno said that although he denied the petition, Omolon camp’s wanted to go on with the protest.

So he advised Omolon’s camp to file the petition in Comelec in Manila and wait for its resolution before a proclamation will be made.

In a separate interview with Rod Francis Bagaslao, who is Omolon’s lawyer, he said that a protest has been filed based on two grounds.

Firstly, Bagaslao said they have found out that the PCOS machine failed to count 30 ballots because it allegedly has “ambiguous marks.”

Secondly, Bagaslao said they have found out that there are four precincts in Mandaue City that transmitted electronic data but based on the statements of votes, there was “zero votes” from president down to the councilor in the precincts.

He said that assuming that there are around 3,000 voters in the precincts, these could already affect the ranking of candidates who are presently occupying the 10th and 11th slots.

Bagaslao said they are appealing to the Board of Canvassers to stop Cabahug’s proclamation.

But since the BOC denied the petition, they will appeal to the COMELEC that their petition be heard.

But Lawyer Gloria Dalawampu, who represents Cabahug, said the best thing to do is to know who is ahead in the race. (FREEMAN NEWS)