Ballot boxes ordered transferred to Manila

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Ballot boxes from seven of the 15 towns here, which are the subject of protests of two leading gubernatorial candidates, were ordered transfered to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila for recount.

Lawyer Abraham Asuncion, provincial election supervisor, said the ballot boxes would be transported on Tuesday next week after an inventory is made.

Five police escorts were instructed to escort the ballot boxes in question.

The Comelec order came after outgoing board member Leonardo Perez Jr., Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino’s (KNP) gubernatorial bet here, filed an election protest with the poll body, seeking the recount of votes from 308 precincts in the towns of Bambang, Kasibu, Dupax Del Norte and Dupax Del Sur.

Similarly, the poll body also granted the counter election protest of Perez’s main rival, incumbent vice governor Luisa Lloren-Cuaresma (LDP-Independent), who was proclaimed by the provincial board of canvassers as the winner in the three-way fight for governor of in the province.

Cuaresma also sought a recount of votes cast in 366 precincts from Solano, Bayombong and Bagabag towns.

The PBOC, whose membership includes Asuncion, proclaimed Cuaresma the governor-elect here after garnering the highest number of votes over her two rivals — Perez and Human rights lawyer Ernesto Salunat of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

In the official election results tallied by the provincial board of canvassers, Cuaresma obtained 56,008 votes while Perez and another candidate, Human Rights lawyer Ernesto Salunat, got 53,227 and 32,062 votes, respectively.

Perez, however, claimed he won by a margin of more than one thousand votes had the votes cast in the towns of Bambang, Kasibu, Dupax Del Norte and Dupax Del Sur been properly counted.

Perez, son of former congressman, senator and Comelec chairman Leonardo Perez Sr., claimed there was cheating and vote-shaving during the election. He also charged that the total votes garnered by the three candidates exceeded the total number of registered voters in the precincts.

Meanwhile, Cuaresma, a former three-term mayor of Bambang town, also filed an election protest claiming the same alleged election irregularities.

But Salunat, also a former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Northern Luzon, expressed optimism that the poll body would favor his own pending election protest seeking the nullification of the election results of 11 towns here for alleged massive vote-buying and other election irregularities.

Salunat’s petition seeks the nullification of the proclamation of Cuaresma and outgoing governor Rodolfo Agbayani as governor-elect and congressman-elect, respectively. He is also calling for the holding of special elections in the 11 towns.

Asuncion, however, assured that these elections protests would not impede the oathtaking and assumption of office of Cuaresma and Agbayani on June 30.

In the case of Perez, Assuncion said he could seek a Temporary Restraining Order suspending Cuaresma’s oath taking on June 30, pending the resolution of the cases.