Makati barangay bet asks Comelec to void rival's win

MANILA, Philippines - A defeated barangay chairman candidate of an exclusive village in Makati City has petitioned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to nullify the proclamation of the winning barangay chairman due to his failure to sign his certificate of candidacy (COC) and the alleged massive cheating and irregularities that took place in the Oct. 25 election.

Joshua John Santiago, through his lawyer George Garcia, alleged that fraud and irregularities marred the election in Barangay San Lorenzo Village through “misreading, miscounting, mistallying and mis-appreciation” of ballots, which resulted in the proclamation of Ernesto Moya as the winning barangay chairman.

Santiago said Moya should not be proclaimed since aside from alleged cheating, his COC filed at the Comelec did not bear his own signature.

Moya won by a margin of 134 votes, with 1,018 votes as against Santiago’s 834.

According to petitioner Amery Santiago, Moya’s COC cannot be considered a public document and is of no evidentiary value without his signature, therefore he is presumed to have never filed his COC nor appeared before a notary public. 

Santiago’s camp said they had documented supporters of Moya who admitted to having voted more than once by removing the indelible ink applied on their right index finger.

Television news programs reported the arrest of flying voters in Barangay San Lorenzo Village in their coverage of the irregularities in the last election in several barangays in the country.

Santiago said he found out that some 20 to 25 persons who voted in the last elections were not residents of the barangay.

Trouble erupted last Saturday when Roberto Cepeda, who was one of those guarding the contested ballots at a warehouse in Barangay Olympia, was attacked and seriously wounded by Moya’s alleged henchmen.

In a phone interview, Moya said the copy of the COC that does not bear his signature may be one of six copies of his COC filed at the Comelec which he accidentally failed to sign.

Moya said he was assured by Makati District 1 Comelec officer lawyer Juliet Villar that his COC filed at the Election Records and Statistics Division has his signature.

Moya said he was not aware of the alleged fraud and irregularities as claimed by Santiago during the elections. “I won fair and square. It was the people who decided,” he said.

Moya said he was in Hong Kong when the alleged attack took place in Barangay Olympia.