Vote recount in South Upi underway

COTABATO CITY — A recanvass of votes in the May 10 polls is finally underway in South Upi, Maguindanao to determine the winner among the three mayoral candidates.

This, as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has invalidated the separate proclamations of the three aspirants as winner, for which the South Upi election officer is now being prosecuted.

"If we can recanvass the actual results of the elections for mayor, vice mayor and councilors in South Upi, we will know who really won and lost in the May 10 elections there," Abalos told Catholic radio station dxMS in a phone interview from Manila.

The impasse in South Upi arose when the municipal poll officer separately proclaimed as winner a week after the May 10 polls both mayoral bet Antonio Gunsi, who was leading in the tally, and the incumbent mayor, Israel Sinsuat, who was running third in the count.

The third candidate, Jovito Martin, subsequently claimed that the poll officer had also proclaimed him winner.

Investigation by the regional Comelec office showed that the certificates of proclamation of the three candidates bore the same serial numbers.

Due to the mayoral impasse, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Parouk Hussin has designated a caretaker for South Upi until the Comelec finally resolves the controversy.

Abalos said he has assigned lawyer Clarita Callar, Comelec director for Central Mindanao, to personally oversee the recanvass of the poll results in South Upi.

He said the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the ARMM police will help the Comelec ensure a peaceful recount of the votes. — John Unson