With the canvassing of votes in Caloocan City nearly completed, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc ordered the other night the suspension of the proclamation of the winners in the congressional and local races in the city.
The Comelec made the ruling pending the resolution of the petition for the declaration of failure of elections in Caloocan by mayoral candidate, Congressman Luis "Baby" Asistio of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, and other opposition candidates and political parties.
Asistio filed his petition last May 15, after the City Treasurer’s Office headed by Lourdes Jose bungled the distribution of ballot boxes, election returns, and other paraphernalia on election day.
As a result, only a handful of the city’s 2,872 precincts were able to hold the elections on May 14, forcing the Comelec to extend the elections the following day.
Asistio claimed that the fiasco resulted in the disenfranchisement of more than 50 percent of the voters in Caloocan. The city has a total of 522,088 registered voters.
As of midnight of May 25, re-electionist Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo (Lakas-NUCD) was leading Asistio by more than 20,000 votes. Malonzo has 100,658 votes compared to Asistio’s 81,105.
City Board of Canvassers (BOC) chairman Calixtro Ramos said that the Comelec has ordered the BOC to continue with the canvassing of votes. "But we have to suspend the proclamation and wait for further orders from the Comelec," Ramos said. According to the BOC, canvassing of votes may be completed today.
While pre-proclamation controversies are not allowed in the national level, City Prosecutor and BOC vice-chairman Ramon Rodrigo said that the BOC will hold the proclamation of the winners in the congressional race as the issue is the petition of a failure of elections. "Failure of elections means as though the elections never happened," he said.
Earlier this week, Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr., district bishop of the Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas area, wrote to Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo to suspend the proclamation of winners and conduct a thorough investigation of what he called an "election fiasco," citing the massive disenfranchisement of Caloocan’s registered voters last May 4. – Jerry Botial and Pete Laude