Comelec affirms victory of Daza as Northern Samar gov

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has upheld the legitimacy of the victory of Gov. Raul Daza of Northern Samar in the May 14, 2001 polls.

For his part, Daza hailed the Comelec’s en banc decision, saying it was a relief not only for him but also for the people of his province.

"This only proves that the will of the people and justice in the country prevail," Daza said.

"This will further strengthen the trust and confidence of my constituents in the administration," he added.

The Comelec dismissed recently for lack of merit the petition for declaration of failure of elections filed by three losing candidates — Jose Ong, Madeleine Mendoza-Ong and Teodoro Jamamil — assisted by the ruling Lakas-NUCD party.

The Comelec ruling also confirmed the legality of the victories of Northern Samar Reps. Romualdo Vicencio (Lakas, second district) and Harlin Castillo-Abayon (LP, first district).

In its decision, the Comelec said the petitioners failed to substantiate their allegations that there was failure of elections in Northern Samar, citing a power outage on the night of the elections which they claimed opened up opportunities for massive fraud.

To declare failure of elections, the Comelec said it is significant to establish that no voting actually took place on the date fixed by law.