Include COCs from 2 towns, Cebu canvass board asked

CEBU — The lawyer of gubernatorial candidate Gwendolyn Garcia is asking the provincial board of canvassers to include in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) tally the protested certificates of canvass (COCs) from the towns of Moalboal and Oslob.

Pablo John Garcia, Gwen’s brother, said he will file a formal manifestation to alert the provincial board of canvassers that its ruling becomes final after gubernatorial candidate Vice Gov. John Gregory Osmeña failed to file a formal notice of appeal with the Comelec.

Garcia said that in the absence of the formal appeal within five days as prescribed by law, the board’s ruling is deemed final.

But board chairman Edwin Cadungog said he cannot convene the board without any order from the Comelec which he said has jurisdiction over the case.

Cadungog said the manifestation should be addressed to the Comelec division handling the protest.

"It is not the (board) that can reconvene on its own volition and proceed with the canvass," Cadungog said.

He said he has submitted his report on the controversy the Comelec central office in Manila.

Osmeña’s lawyer, Edgar Gica, earlier filed a notice with the provincial board of canvassers appealing its ruling denying, for lack for merit, his petition to exclude the COCs from Moalboal and Oslob.

Gica protested the COCs from the two towns where Gwen won by a big margin over Osmeña and Celestino Martinez Jr. on the ground that they were allegedly "manufactured."

Gwen won in Moalboal with 6,696 votes over Martinez who only got 2,517. She also won in Oslob with 5,535 over Martinez’s 1,414.

Gwen was also leading in the official Comelec tally before the provincial board of canvassers suspended the canvassing. — Freeman News Service