Aside from having the highest number of violence during elections, the Philippines is probably the only country in the world where electoral cases take the longest period to settle.
It is not that the country lacks the laws that would settle electoral cases. Rather, it is the seeming incompetence of our authorities that prevents them to speedily solve cases involving poll protests.
Across the country, a number of protests stemmed from the May 2007 elections had been pending before the Commission on Elections for resolution. But up to now, only few have been solved while others have started to gather dust at the Comelec central office since those involved also chose the court to intervene, thus prolonging the settlement of their case.
This is what happened to the municipality of Tudela when the court-supervised recount only prolongs the agony of the townsfolk as to who should be honored as their mayor.
During the 2007 elections, Rogelio Baquerfo won against Demetrio Granada in the mayoralty race. But claiming he was cheated by Baquerfo, Granada filed an electoral protest and sought for a vote recount.
A recount of votes initiated by a Danao City Court turned the tide in favor of Granada, who won against Baquerfo by only 13 votes. But Baquerfo refused to yield the post to Granada despite an order from the court for him to vacate.
But when Baquerfo went out of town for an official appointment in the mainland, Granada then grabbed the opportunity to storm the municipal hall and take over the office of the mayor.
Despite losing the office of the mayor to Granada, Baquerfo continues to act as mayor of the town. His function has the blessing of the Department of Interior and Local Government, which continues to transact official business with him instead of the court-backed Granada.
The Tudela case, which seemed to have gone from bad to worse despite the intervention of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, is not only the one troubling the Cebuanos. Politics also reared its ugly head in the northern town of Daanbantayan following the filing of an electoral complaint by the camp of a losing mayoralty candidate.
There seemed to be no resolution in sight for these two electoral cases despite the fact that the 2010 election is fast approaching. The fault lies not in the contending parties, each of which has been exhausting massive resources in order to prevail when the final decision is handed down.
Had the authorities acted upon the Tudela issue swiftly, the town would have long returned to its normal functions.