No winners yet in re-canvassing
MANILA — The Special Municipal Board of Canvassers of Compostela, Cebu, was able to canvass the questioned election returns of the 2010 elections at the central office of the Commission on Elections in Manila but failed to proclaim winners as of yesterday.
The electronically-generated election returns (ERS) statement of votes by precincts (SOVP) are being used in the canvassing to compare the results.
Of the 15 questioned election returns, clustered precinct 19 shows discrepancies in the tally while result of precinct 26 is unreadable for the position of town council members.
Unofficial results showed that respondent Joel Quiño got 4,415 while petitioner Ritchie Wagas got 3,970 votes.
The board convened at 9 a. m. at the Comelec En Banc session hall. The group of Quiño was complete in attendance while Wagas was only represented by his counsel George Garcia.
Garcia questioned the procedures of the recanvassing, none of which were set.
“I understand the board because this is the first time in the history of 2010 election when there is pre- proclamation controversy granted by Comelec,” Garcia said.
He stressed that due process was violated by the absence of rules and procedures.
Comelec Resolution 8804 provides the procedure and rules on re-canvass on the automated elections where parties are not allowed to object except to the legality of the proceedings and the composition of the board.
Garcia said that what the board did yesterday was a manual re-canvassing and was not automated.
Garcia pointed out that in the manual canvassing, if the number of election returns objected to, whether it is right or wrong, will affect the result, then there can be no proclamation.
Another issue Garcia has raised was the authenticity of the electronically generated election returns being canvassed.
The canvassed election returns came from different sources such as the copies of the majority and minority parties and even the copy for the ballot box.
Garcia questioned why the election officer of Compostela did not produce the copy intended for canvassing.
But MBOC chairman Consuelo Diola told reporters that what they canvassed are considered authenticated documents.
Garcia expressed doubt that even the compact flash card brought for canvassing to the election officer can easily be switched when clustered precinct 19 showed different result compared to the SOVP.
The election returns of precinct 19 shows that Quiño got 361 votes and Wagas got 397 votes, but the SOVP shows only four votes for each of them.
Garcia stressed that he has no intention of delaying the proclamation, in fact he did not object the re- canvassing.
“We do not want to prevent the proclamation kung napansin ninyo, I want somebody to be proclaimed kasi unfair naman sa mga tao na wala silang nakaupo doon ngayon,” he told reporters.
He said that if they lose, he will be the one to tell Wagas to accept defeat.
Garcia suggested that what the Comelec must do to solve the problem is to open the ballot boxes and manually count the ballots to determine if the ballots will tally the same with the ERS.
But Quiño’s lawyer, Victor Pablo Trinidad, said what Garcia suggested can no longer be done at this time saying it is not what the law says.
“Election returns generated by PCOS machines are an original copy and it can be used in canvassing,” Trinidad said.
To promote transparency, Diola ordered that copies of the questioned documents be extracted today
from the Election Records and Statistics Department of the Comelec and the re-canvassing will resume tomorrow.
Diola said they will compare the results and if these are the same with the ones canvassed they will proclaim the winners, but if not there will be some investigation to be conducted.
Trinidad said that had the board canvassed all the ERS yesterday, the board has the power to proclaim the winners.
There are 784 people who actually voted in precinct 19 while 429 in precinct 26.
Trinidad said if all those votes will be given to other party, Quiño is already a sure winner.
Quiño claimed to have 2,380 votes margin against Wagas based on the certificate of canvassed of the 2010 elections.
While there was no proclamation yesterday, Quiño said he is not disappointed as the resolution of the problem is now nearer.
“Gamay lang gyud pasensiya kay dili man ni mahimo nga usahon lang nato, di sad makasabot taga pikas kung dili nato i- consider ang ilang mga concerns para transparent gyud ug mausa ra gyud ang resulta sa tanan,” Quiño said.
He hopes that he and other officials of Compostela will be proclaimed tomorrow. —/BRP