Dy: The fight is not over yet

Cauayan City, Isabela — "We will wait till the final official proclamation. The fight is not over yet."

Thus said Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. in reaction to what has been described as the "insurmountable" lead of his rival, broadcaster and polio victim Grace Padaca (Aksyon Demokratiko), in the gubernatorial race.

Padaca led Dy by a margin of 42,728 votes — 238,737 versus 196,009 — in the complete but unofficial count of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) from the province’s 36 towns.

The official canvass, however, was halted due to the resignation of the members of the provincial board of canvassers — lawyer Reynaldo Doma, acting provincial election supervisor; Dr. Benito Tumamao, schools’ division superintendent; and provincial auditor Beatriz Pataueg, who replaced prosecutor Anthony Foz who earlier inhibited himself.

Acting on Namfrel’s request, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has named three lawyers — Emmanuel Ignacio, Joel Allones and Michael Valdez — to constitute the new provincial board of canvassers to allow the official canvass to resume.

When the canvassing was suspended last Monday, Padaca was leading the race with 145,954 votes against Dy’s 125,712.

Of the 36 towns, only the certificates of canvass (COCs) from eight towns — Angadanan, Cordon, Ramon, Jones, San Agustin, San Mariano, Cabatuan and Ilagan — remain uncounted.

The Dy camp has petitioned the Comelec to transfer the canvassing of the remaining COCs but the poll body has yet to act on it.

The eight COCs contain votes of more than 197,000 which Dy said are "more than enough for me to surpass the lead of my rival."

The eight towns are said to be traditional bailiwicks of the Dys, whose father, Faustino Dy Jr., was Isabela’s longest-serving governor.

Dy, national president of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, said declaring Padaca the winner is "premature" and has "no official basis, thus only creating discontentment and chaos" among his and Padaca’s followers.

Silvestre Bello III, Cagayan Valley chairman of the administration’s Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats), called for sobriety among Isabelinos and urged both Dy and Padaca to wait for the final results of the official canvassing.

Meanwhile, Patriots, a poll watchdog group, warned of a "looming vote-padding" in Isabela, claiming this was based on its "electoral investigative mission."

Patriots cited what it alleged to be the dagdag-bawas (vote-padding/shaving) in Cordon town where copies of the COC held by Namfrel and political parties showed Padaca leading Dy by 2,684 votes.

However, Patriots said that after the long delay in the submission of the COC to the provincial board of canvassers, the certificate showed Dy with a lead of 10,478 votes over Padaca.

Both Namfrel and Padaca’s lawyers have questioned the authenticity of the Cordon COC. — With James Mananghaya