Poll loser in Brgy Luz brings protest to court

CEBU, Philippines - A week after the recently concluded barangay elections, a defeated candidate in Barangay Luz, Cebu City has brought her protest before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC).

A candidate for barangay captain, Marilyn Banico of Archbishop Reyes Avenue, Barangay Luz, Cebu City alleged that there was irregularities in the proclamation of Rian Tante on October 29,2013 as newly-elected barangay captain.

 Banico strongly believes that the election result was not truly reflective of the will and sentiment of the voters of Barangay Luz.

Assisted by lawyer Steve Siclot in filing the election protest, Banico contested 24 precincts out of 28.

 Of the 24 protested precincts, Banico obtained the total votes of 2,669 while Tante obtained 4,125 votes or a difference of 1,456 votes.

 Based on the official result, Tante has garnered 4,838 votes from the entire 28 precincts while Banico got 3,022 votes.

 Banico likewise, said that based on the observa-tion of her watchers and supporters, there were alleged massive fraud and irregularities committed by the camp and supporters of Tante.

 She alleged ballots switching or the use of fake ballots and massive vote buying where folded sample ballots with certain amount of bills inserted were given in consideration for the voters.

 Apart from that, Banico alleged that the Board of Election Inspector (BEI) committed a mistake.

“There were several instances also wherein members of the BEI committed errors in the appreciation of ballots where ballots which could have been counted in favor of the protestant were deemed not counted,” she stressed.

 If not with the alleged foregoing acts of Tante, Banico believed that in the aforementioned protested precincts, she would have been won.

 Thereby, she asked the court for the revision of  ballots to disclose the alleged irregularities during the past election.  (FREEMAN)