BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya ,Philippines – Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy III will it leave up to his lawyers to deal with the approved recount petition filed by former governor Grace Padaca in connection with her election protest against him in the 2010 elections.
“It’s up to our lawyers to confront the recount petition. It’s up to them to deal with it,” Dy said yesterday in reaction to the resolution by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) granting Padaca’s motion for a recount.
“Anyway, we also a have a pending counterprotest before the poll body,” he added.
Dy said they have yet to receive a copy of the document.
In the resolution penned by Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, the Comelec ordered the Isabela election office to transfer to the poll body’s headquarters the ballots in the 519 precincts whose results Padaca questioned. Isabela election supervisor Manuel Castillo said they have yet to receive an official copy of the decision.
Dy garnered 274,757 votes in the 2010 gubernatorial race against the 271,219 received by Padaca. Her defeat spoiled what could have been her third and final term as governor of the country’s third largest province.
Padaca cited electronic shaving of her votes, massive vote-buying and other irregularities that deprived her of victory.