Comelec to start recount in Taguig poll protest

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is getting ready to recount the results of the 2010 mayoral elections in Taguig City.

In a three-page order, the Comelec’s first division ordered the retrieval of 47 ballot boxes. The recount proceedings are scheduled on Oct. 27 and 28 and Nov. 2 and 4.

“(The Division resolves to) retrieve the contested ballot boxes included in the pilot precincts following the scheme of collecting 10 ballot boxes a day every morning of the recount proceeding from its present storage area in Taguig City Hall Auditorium to the recount venue at the Comelec,” the poll body said.

The Comelec’s first division has also created a committee to do the recount and asked the Philippine Marine Corps to provide security escorts during the retrieval of the ballot boxes.

In the last May 2010 elections, Lani Cayetano won over Dante Tinga by 2,420 votes, prompting the latter to seek a recount of the election results.

Five months ago, the Comelec second division had already ordered the retrieval of the ballot boxes, but Cayetano’s camp claimed that the division’s members are biased against the wife of Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and asked the case to be transferred to the first division. The Comelec approved the reassignment last April.