Comelec asks Pagdanganan, Mendoza to submit arguments

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections yesterday asked Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza and former governor Roberto Pagdanganan to submit their respective memoranda to support their claims that they are the real head of the province.

In a hearing, presided by Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, the two camps were given five days or until Saturday to file the memoranda, in lieu of an oral argument.

On Feb. 8, the Comelec had declared Pagdanganan as the duly elected Bulacan governor for getting 342,295 votes against Mendoza’s 337,974 votes.

But four days later, the poll body backpedaled and ordered yesterday’s re-hearing of the case, claiming that they failed to get the required four votes from commissioners.

It turned out, however, that three poll officials – Chairman Jose Melo and Commissioners Armando Velasco and Gregorio Larrazabal, both of the First Division – did not take part in the deliberation while one, Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, had made a dissenting opinion.

Only Second Division Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer, Elias Yusoph and Lucenito Velasco have made concurring votes.

During yesterday’s hearing, Pagdanganan’s lawyer George Garcia had accused Mendoza’s camp of “forum shopping” for filing a petition for temporary restraining order with the Supreme Court on Friday while it already filed a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec a day before that.

For his part, Mendoza’s legal counsel Sixto Brillantes said that they were forced to file the petition with the SC because Pagdanganan’s supporters were trying to enter the Bulacan Capitol office then.

Brillantes added that their acts could not be constituted as forum shopping because they made “full disclosure” of what has been happening in the case in the petition that they lodged with the high tribunal.

He, instead, demanded that Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco cast a vote on who between Mendoza and Pagdanganan is the rightful governor of Bulacan.

Velasco did not take part in the voting as he was not able to review the ballots from the province.