Comelec upholds Sato’s 2004 win

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) affirmed the victory of Occidental Mindoro Gov. Josephine Sato over her rival Jose Villarosa in the 2004 elections.

In a resolution, the Comelec’s first division said that after a review of the results of the 2004 balloting, Sato edged Villarosa by a margin of 23,516 votes – the former got 80,561 votes against the latter’s 57,045 votes.

With such a big margin, the Comelec thus dismissed Villarosa’s electoral protest for "lack of merit."

However, in view of the massive number of spurious ballots, the Comelec directed its legal department to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies in investigating them and filing the necessary charges against those behind them.