Danao VM ready for recall polls

Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon "Nito" Durano III yesterday declared he and his group under the Bakud Party are prepared to challenge his brother, Mayor Ramon "Boy" Durano Jr., once the Commission on Elections schedules the recall election in the city.

Vice Mayor Durano was the runningmate of Mayor Durano during the May 10, 2010 elections, but two months after they assumed office, the two had a misunderstanding over Boy’s management of the city.

The camp of Nito then filed a petition for recall against his brother.

The camp of Mayor Durano filed a counter petition for recall against the vice mayor and nine members of the city council, but it was denied by the Comelec en banc due to technicalities.

Vice Mayor Durano has the backing of the City Council while Mayor Durano is being supported by former Danao City Mayor Jesus “Don” Durano.

Danao City Election Officer Dominic Ian Marigomen last week submitted his summary report on the verification of signatures regarding the petition for recall filed by Vice Mayor Durano and his group against Mayor Durano.

In his report, Marigomen said the total number of signatures verified is 22,439. Of that number 17,484 signatures were found to be similar when compared to the signatures of registered voters in the Comelec-danao City voter registry.

Marigomen further said that the total number of uncontested signatures is 5,451 while the total number of contested signatures is 12,443.

This figure, according to Marigomen is more than the required minimum number of petitioners.

Meanwhile, contrary to what was believed, the elections office in Danao City, which caught fire late last January, was not set on fire deliberately.

The city’s fire marshal Chief Insp. Ronald Orbeta said his office received the result from the arson laboratory of their central office in Manila last Monday disclosing that there was no single trace of flammable liquid found in the evidence that they submitted.

A day after the fire, Orbeta said they submitted pieces of evidence like a part of the burnt wall of the elections office, a wooden slat that caught fire and a gallon container found outside the office.

Danao City Councilor Jorge John Cane earlier said he believed it was arson and that the gallon contained the gasoline used to fuel the fire.

Orbeta said based on the laboratory results, the gallon tested negative of gas or other flammable liquids.