Iligan City – Hundreds of residents here held a prayer rally in front of the St. Michael’s cathedral last Friday to protest the results of the canvassing of three tampered ballot boxes from three Lanao del Norte towns, which reversed the result of the May 14 election in favor of a congressional candidate who placed third in the canvassing based on the Certificates of Canvass and Election Returns.
Following the re-convening of the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) on Friday at the legislative building of the provincial capitol in the province, the three ballot boxes from the towns of Kauswagan, Bacolod and Maigo in Lanao, which were earlier declared by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), have been forcibly opened.
In the presence of the new PBOC led by its chairman lawyer Gondino Salvana, United Opposition (UNO) lawyer Arthur Abundiente manifested that the seals of the brown envelops containing the COCs inside the ballot boxes from the town of Maigo, have been destroyed and alterations in the figures were noted.
However, even with the objections of the UNO lawyers in counting what appeared to be altered COCs, the PBOC insisted that the canvassing continue.
In the alleged altered COC, the total number of votes garnered by congressional candidate Lanao del Norte Gov. Imelda Dimaporo was 7,550 but the total votes reflected on the two other copies held by Namfrel-PPCRV and the LP, showed Dimaporo only got 1,550 votes.