Comelec annuls Isabela mayor’s 2004 poll victory

RAMON, Isabela – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has nullified the proclamation of Mayor Wilfredo Tabag of this province’s southwestern town as the winning candidate in the 2004 polls.

The poll body’s first division also formed a new set of municipal board of canvassers (MBOC) to conduct a recount of the votes here as contained in the motion of Raymond Espidol, who was proclaimed mayor of this town but ousted in July last year after losing in a "fraud-marred" recount conducted by the old MBOC.

The old MBOC members have been under fire for illegally proclaiming Tabag, despite glaring irregularities in last year’s re-canvassing of election returns, which the first division described as "totally spurious, substituted and clearly manufactured."

With its finding of gross irregularities, the Comelec’s first division said it "declares the proclamation of Wilfredo Tabag as the duly elected Mayor of Ramon, Isabela as null and void."

The 27-page resolution dated Jan. 31, 2007, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR yesterday, came after the discovery of the spurious election returns, which obviously favored Tabag.

It also noted that the election returns canvassed by the MBOC, which was the basis of Tabag’s proclamation, did not match with the other original copies of the same documents that showed Espidol as the legitimate winner in the last election.

In ordering another recount, the poll body formed another set of MBOC composed of Comelec lawyers Ma. Elizabeth Sarmiento, chairman; Belen Carasig, vice chairman; and Rafael Olaño, secretary.