Comelec fails to get ballot boxes for Taguig recount

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday failed once again to retrieve 43 ballot boxes from the Taguig City Hall, delaying the recount proceedings of the city’s 2010 mayoralty race.

According to Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, personnel from Comelec-National Capital Region (NCR) office went to the City Hall yesterday morning to get the ballot boxes but they were met with barricades set up by supporters of Mayor Ma. Laarni Cayetano.

“I was informed by (Comelec NCR director Jubil) Surmieda that they were not able to enter the place.  Jeepneys and buses were used to block the entrance.  One attempted to sneak in through the side (door) but was stopped,” he said.

Sarmiento said the group decided to leave before any untoward incident happened.

“The Comelec will discuss in (today’s) en banc what to do next. We’ll think of ways on how to retrieve the ballot boxes,” he added.

Cayetano spokesman Darwin Icay said that as of 3:30 p.m., no one from the Comelec had arrived at the City Hall. He said the barricades, such as buses along Levi Mariano Boulevard and Gen. Luna street, were put up after they received information that the supporters of defeated mayoralty bet Dante Tiñga will create a ruckus during the retrieval of the ballot boxes.

Icay said they have no intention of blocking the Comelec from retrieving the ballots. “We are preventing the unauthorized persons from getting inside City Hall,” he said, referring to Tiñga’s supporters.

The order for the retrieval was issued by the Comelec’s first division Feb. 15 and was scheduled from Feb. 20 to 23.

Cayetano, on the other hand, filed an “extremely urgent motion” asking the Comelec to clarify, among others, the purpose of the ballot retrieval, whether “the ballot boxes will be used for recount or revision, because these are two different things.”

Cayetano also asked the Comelec to conduct an “inventory” of the compact flash cards. The City Hall said that based on the Comelec’s rules of procedure, these cards will be used as basis for the recount.

Last month, the Comelec ordered the retrieval of the ballot boxes to start the recount proceedings for the electoral protest filed against Cayetano by Tiñga. The 43 ballot boxes involved in the case represent 20 percent of the ballot boxes being questioned by Tiñga, a former Supreme Court associate justice who lost to Cayetano by 2,420 votes in the May 2010 polls.