3 Lanao towns’ COCs excluded

ILIGAN CITY – The Commission on Elections’ second division has ruled to exclude the controversial certificates of canvass (COCs) from three Lanao del Norte towns after they were found to have been tampered with.

First district congressional candidate Vicente Belmonte Jr., through lawyers of the United Opposition, filed the petition for exclusion of the COCs from Kauswagan, Bacolod and Maigo towns.

The National Bureau of Investigation said ballot boxes from the three towns had been forcibly opened and the COCs kept in them tampered with.

In its resolution, the Comelec’s second division cited, for instance, “statistical improbability resulting from the deliberate and reckless alterations” in the Kauswagan COC where the supposed total votes – 10,225 – of Belmonte’s rival, former governor Imelda Dimaporo (Lakas-CMD), exceeded the number of voters there in the May 14 polls.

Based on the authenticated copies of the COCs from the National Movement for Free Elections and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, Belmonte got 59,932 votes; Angelique Badelles (Kampi) 46,600; and Dimaporo, 43,403.  – Lino de la Cruz