‘We were robbed’

But Osmeña maintains his margin of 34,036 votes was legitimate

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña responds: “Why would the Cebuanos want to elect a mayor who is so incompetent that he cannot protect his own votes in his own precinct where he lost by a margin of almost two to one?” Comelec’s Second Division has found enough basis to recount the ballots in some Cebu City precincts, to settle questions about how reliable the vote counting machines (VCMs) really were

ARECOUNT and revision of ballots will bring about the truth the residents of Cebu City deserve to know, former mayor Michael Rama said. The former mayor commended the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Second Division for finding the election protest he had filed against Mayor Tomas Osmeña “sufficient in form and substance.”

“It’s an interim Christmas gift to the people who’ve been wanting it. I laud the Comelec for seeing form and substance. That recount would bring about the truth or not. At least, it’s now in motion.

Whatever the outcome may be, the people of the city need to know,” Rama told reporters in a press conference last week.

Last May 20, the former mayor’s camp filed an election protest asking the poll body to manually count the votes cast in some precincts during the May 9 polls to verify electoral fraud.

At least 42 out of 80 village chiefs in the city signed a manifesto to support that move.

What he claims

During the May 9 elections, Osmeña defeated Rama by a margin of 34,036 votes. Osmeña earned a total of 267,222 votes compared to Rama’s 233,186 votes.

Rama said that his loss to the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan stalwart was “statistically improbable” because he was winning by around the same margin in the eight surveys he had prior to the polls.

Last week, Rama said that like vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., he was “robbed” of his votes.

“He’s been assailing he’s been robbed by three million votes. We were also robbed…We were shocked (by the election results),” Rama said.

After learning of the election protest, Osmeña’s camp filed a counter-protest, moving for the dismissal of Rama’s request.

The mayor’s camp argued that the election protest did not specify which precincts were involved in the alleged irregularities.

Rama, in response to the counter-protest, did not present any special and affirmative defenses.

‘Only way’

He, instead, maintained that the “only way to ascertain the truth and veracity” of the alleged irregularities is through the recount and revision of the ballots, both in the protested and counter-protested clustered precincts.

In its order dated Nov. 11 (but released Dec. 2), Comelec said that both election protest and counter-protests contained allegations of a similar nature, such as the malfunctioning of the votecounting machines (VCM) and the failure to count valid votes.

Both parties also accused each other of practicing substitute voting and massive vote-buying during the election and campaign periods.

“With this distinct observation, this Commission (Second Division) is convinced that the gravity of the allegations of electoral frauds, irregularities and anomalies in all their contested precincts are so serious that the evaluation, consideration and examination of both the election protest and the counter-protest by this Commission is aptly called for,” reads a portion of the order.

Presiding Commissioner Al Parenno and Commissioners Arthur Lim and Sheriff Abas said that to examine the evidence supporting the common allegations from both parties, a recount of the votes may be conducted as provided for by the Omnibus Election Code.

The Comelec officials said that reopening and recounting the ballots would provide a better standpoint concerning the issue of “reliability” of the VCMs.

Challenge

Rama said the counterprotest filed by Osmeña was “just an afterthought.”

“His protest was an afterthought, but ours wasn’t. It was really the talk. It’s good that it’s moving fast and whatever the result, we will be happy. But we won’t be dictating as well because they have their own pace at Comelec,” he said.

Osmeña, for his part, last week challenged the former mayor to include Team Rama precincts where he lost in the May 9 polls in the 20-percent clustered precincts the latter’s camp has identified.

“I’ll make a bet. In his precinct, he will still lose. Tell him that. Just include it in the list (of 20 percent clustered precincts),” the mayor said in a news conference last week.

It is the standard procedure of the poll body to review first 20 percent out of the 837 clustered precincts in the city.

The election protest proceedings will only continue if Rama will be able to recover at least 20 percent of Osmeña’s overall vote lead.

In an earlier interview, Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, one of the lawyers handling Rama’s case, said they’re protesting results in the 167 they’ve identified, or 20 percent of the 837 clustered precincts.

Accusations

The mayor alleged that Rama lost an average of two votes against him, even in Team Rama precincts, including Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella’s in Barangay Manolo.

Osmeña also pointed to Barangay Camputhaw, where former mayor Alvin Garcia, Team Rama’s north district representative candidate, lives.

Rama, however, denied the allegation and maintained that he won against Osmeña in the May 9 polls.

“Maayo niya pagkatikas tingali. Amo naman gihapon (Maybe he cheated well. It was ours even) one week before election. I lost in one precinct in each district. Sugarol gyud siyang dako (He’s a big gambler),” Rama said.

Sought for comment, Osmeña, in a text message to Sun.Star Cebu, maintained that he has not cheated in the elections.

“Rama couldn’t even win in his own precinct and even in Labella’s precinct…Why would the Cebuanos want to elect a mayor who is so incompetent that he cannot protect his own votes in his own precinct where he lost by a margin of almost two to one?” he said.