FOR 2 FRIENDS, COIN ENDS THE SUSPENSE
The Barangay Board of Canvassers of Lantawan, San Fernado opt for a coin toss to break the tie between two candidates for barangay councilors yesterday.
Barangay Lantawan is among the seven barangays in the province where the Commission on Elections had to break a tie between candidates in last Monday’s polls.
Alicia Alcoseba, 52, and Analyn Ilustrisimo, 40, did everything together when they decided to run for barangay councilor in Lantawan, San Fernando.
They filed their certificates of candidacy, joined the same political party, campaigned and even cast their votes together on Election Day.
But fate decided to test their friendship.
On Election Day, Alcoseba and Ilustrisimo got the same number of votes and were tied for the seventh and last position for Lanwere tawan’s barangay council. They both got 515 votes.
To break the tie, members of Lantawan’s Barangay Board of Canvassers (BBOC) decided to settle the issue through a coin toss held in the local election office in San Fernando at 1 p.m. yesterday.
Under Section 71 of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution 9030, an election that results in a tie “shall by resolution, and upon five days’ notice to all candidates concerned, hold a special public meeting in which the Barangay Board of Canvassers shall proceed to draw the lots between the candidates who have tied and proclaim as election the candidates who may be favored by luck.”
A P10 coin owned by San Fernando election officer Renante Angcos was used to break the tie.
Before the coin toss, BBOC chairman Lucita Gica met with the two candidates and Angcos to discuss the terms of the toss.
Both candidates even brought a pastor to help guide them should the odds not be in their favor.
When it was time to choose their side of the coin, Alcoseba picked heads while Ilustrisimo picked tails.
The two candidates then sat on opposite sides while Gica, holding the coin, stood between them.
Local election employees and some bystanders came to watch.
Gica then tossed the coin in the air and watched it fall on the ground.
When Gica and Angcos saw that it was heads, both Alcoseba and Ilustrisimo embraced each other.
Alcoseba is now the duly-elected seventh councilor of Lantawan.
“I am happy for her (Alcoseba). Even if I didn’t win the coin toss, I’m still happy because it was my friend who won,” Ilustrisimo said in Cebuano.
A day before the coin toss, the two friends decided to talk to Gica about their situation.
Gica told Sunstar Cebu that initially, the two women asked her if they could share the position.
“They asked me if it was possible to split the two-year term between them but I told them it was illegal,” Gica said.
But Gica said there was no bad blood between the two and both even agreed that they will accept whatever the result of the coin toss will be.
Alcoseba, who ran for baran-
A poll race resulting in a tie “shall, by resolution, and upon five days notice to all candidates concerned, hold a special public meeting in which the (Barangay Boards of Canvassers) shall proceed to draw the lots between the candidates who have tied and proclaim as election the candidates who may be favored by luck…”
Section 71 of Comelec Resolution 9030
gay councilor for three times before she won, said that if the coin toss had gone the other way, she was ready to accept the decision.
Now a barangay councilor, Alcoseba vowed to serve her village wholeheartedly.
Aside from Alcoseba and Ilustrisimo, BBOC officials from Sangat, San Fernando also broke the tie between two Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) candidates who tied in the second place.
Jhun Arnold Briones and Cathlyn Lasprillas both tied for second place with 521 votes. Both ran under the same party.