Ecija mayor unseated

SAN ISIDRO, Nueva Ecija — The first division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has declared a former provincial board member this town’s duly elected mayor in the 2004 polls.

In ruling in favor of Christopher Villareal, the Comelec overturned a 2005 decision of the Gapan City regional trial court which proclaimed his aunt, incumbent Mayor Sonia Lorenzo, as winner in the mayoral race.

In a 104-page decision last Wednesday, the first division, chaired by Commissioner Resurreccion Borra, ruled that Villareal garnered 7,064 votes compared to Lorenzo’s 6,855, or a margin of 209 votes.

The Comelec reversed the Aug. 29, 2005 decision of Judge Arturo Bernardo of Gapan City RTC Branch 36 which declared Lorenzo winner over Villareal by 716 votes.

Lorenzo, a member of the Josons’ Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija (Balane) party, is the wife of former congressman Victorio Lorenzo whose younger sister, Julita, a former two-term congresswoman, is the mother of Christopher.

The Lorenzos, scions of the late former mayor Maximino Lorenzo, and the Villareals are bitter political rivals.

On May 12, 2004, the municipal board of canvassers proclaimed Lorenzo winner with a margin of 645 votes over Villareal.

Claiming massive fraud and irregularities, Villareal, however, filed an electoral protest with the Gapan RTC, questioning the results in all 112 polling precincts.

Lorenzo filed a counter-protest, questioning the results in 35 precincts on the same grounds.

During the revision, five ballot boxes were found to contain no ballots and without padlocks and seals, thus were excluded from the revision.

In its order, the Comelec’s first division declared Lorenzo’s proclamation null and void and ordered her to immediately vacate and relinquish the duties and functions of the mayor’s office to Villareal.

In a press statement, Lorenzo said the poll body’s ruling is not yet final and executory.

She said they are given five days to file a motion for reconsideration, which her legal counsel, lawyer Jose Aspiras, will file tomorrow.

"I am still the mayor of San Isidro," she said, adding that her camp will exhaust all legal means, including elevating the case to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

In reversing the RTC’s earlier decision, the Comelec re-appreciated the ballots in 59 precincts that were the subject of the court’s revision. It invalidated 489 votes for Villareal and 543 for Lorenzo.