Comelec starts re-canvassing of votes in Isabela town

RAMON, Isabela — With less than a year to go before next year’s midterm elections, this town’s mayoral row is far from over.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) started the other day the re-canvassing of election returns in the May 2004 elections here to determine the real winner of the mayoral post.

The provincial election registrar’s move was in compliance with an earlier order of the Supreme Court (SC), which upheld the Comelec en banc’s ruling last year voiding the proclamation of Raymond Espidol as the duly elected mayor.

The SC order, dated Feb. 8, 2006, also paved the way for Vice Mayor Mercy Vizcara to take over the reins of the town leadership in an acting capacity until the Comelec resolves the election protest filed by mayoralty bet Wilfredo Tabag, who claimed that he was cheated of victory.

Following the May 2004 polls, the local board of canvassers proclaimed Espidol the winning mayoralty candidate after obtaining 8,647 votes against Tabag’s 6,635 votes.

Tabag, however, filed a motion before the Comelec to annul Espidol’s proclamation and restrain him from assuming the mayoralty post.

Acting on Tabag’s petition, the Comelec en banc voided Espidol’s proclamation, ruling that the members of the local board of canvassers ‘acted under duress, intimidation and threats’ when they proclaimed Espidol.

The Comelec, in its decision, noted discrepancies between the number of votes cast for the mayoral candidates and the number of registered voters who actually voted.

It said that upon verification of the statement of votes, the Comelec second division discovered that the number of those who actually voted was 17,207 while the number of votes cast for the mayoral candidates was 18,065.

Espidol was forced to step down from office last February after the High Court junked with finality the motion filed by his lawyers seeking to overturn last year’s decision of the Comelec that annulled his proclamation.