Poll protest in Paranaque

The proclamation of winning Parañaque City congressional candidate Eduardo Zialcita was questioned due to alleged irregularities in the Parañaque-Commission on Elections’ proclamation procedures.

According to Jose Enrico "Rico" Golez, the Comelec’s proclamations of Zialcita and winning mayoralty and vice mayoralty candidates Joey Marquez and Florencio "Jun" Bernabe Jr. in the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) were highly irregular.

Golez, who finished second to Zialcita in the 15-man contest for the lone Parañaque congressional seat, said the local Comelec should have held the proclamation right after the final tabulation of votes at the canvassing center inside the Parañaque Sports Complex or the Comelec office at the City Hall in Barangay San Antonio.

Golez also alleged that the proclamation of the three supposed winning candidates was even held clandestinely.

The young Golez revealed that the Comelec has yet to furnish them with their last official tally wherein Zialcita was shown as the rightful winner and a proclamation certificate signed by the three members of the local Comelec Board of Canvassers.

For his part, Zialcita dismissed Golez’s charges as "sour-graping." Zialcita said both the last official tallies of the local Comelec and Parañaque National Movement for Free Elections showed that he won with more than a thousand votes over Golez.

"I won despite the meddling of his father, Mr. Roilo Golez, who used his position to campaign for his son. I believe that I won by a bigger margin but was victimized by ‘dagdag-bawas’ operations of my opponents," Zialcita said.– Rainier Allan Ronda