Delay in Caloocan polls deliberate, says exec

Caloocan City Board of Canvassers (BOC) chairman Calixto Ramos claimed Monday night that there was "a concerted action to delay the distribution of ballot boxes" last May 14 in the city.

Ramos made the revelation as hundreds of supporters of re-electionist Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo and his closest rival, Rep. Luis "Baby" Asistio, gathered in front of the Caloocan City Hall and waited for the BOC’s final official count.

"We all know that once the delivery of the ballot boxes to the respective schools are delayed, the voters would get mad and go home," Ramos said.

According to the BOC chairman, he reported his findings to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) main office which is investigating the disorderly distribution of the ballot boxes, official ballots, election returns, and other election paraphernalia by the Caloocan City Treasurer’s Office during election day.

The bungled distribution of the election materials resulted in the postponement of the election in several precincts in the city, forcing the Comelec to extend the election the following day.

"I told the Comelec that in all my assignments, this is the worst system of distribution," Ramos said.

He recalled that at around 2 a.m. on May 14, City Treasurer Lourdes Jose refused to open the door at the Caloocan City Trade Center, despite the growing number of teachers waiting in line for the distribution.

Two hours later, armed with a memorandum, Ramos said he forcibly opened the Trade Center office and discovered that several ballot boxes were missing while others had no election returns inside them. "I went to Jose’s office and asked for the materials but she told me there were none. But when I conducted an inventory, we found many materials needed for the voting in her office," Ramos said.

Among these materials found in Jose’s office were boxes of indelible ink, fingerprint papers, and paper seals.

On May 15, Asistio filed a petition calling on the Comelec to declare a failure of elections in the city, citing the massive disenfranchisement of voters. Attached with Asistio’s petition was an affidavit executed by City Hall employees assigned to the Miscellaneous Division of the City Treasurer’s Office.

Meanwhile, over one hundred anti-riot policemen were needed to prevent what could have been a riotous encounter between supporters of Malonzo and Asistio at the City Hall Monday night, said Caloocan City Chief of Police Superintendent Benjardi Mantele.

As Asistio’s supporters faced the City Hall with their banners, streamers, and posters, Malonzo’s loyalists filled the building’s corridors, verandah and parking lot.

While the Comelec has yet to release its final official count, pending an order to suspend the proclamation of winners, an unofficial tally released by Malonzo’s group showed the incumbent mayor receiving 156,078 votes over Asistio’s 124,758 votes.