Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit has assumed his post as the new Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff with a clear message he will uphold democracy and ensure a credible presidential and local elections in may.

In his assumption speech, Bangit, the outgoing army chief, sought to disprove allegations of naysayers that his appointment will pave the way for a purported plot to rig the polls and that he will be an agent against democracy.

Bangit succeeded retired AFP chief Gen. Victor Ibrado who served as military chief for 10 months. The turnover ceremony was presided by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Camp Aguinaldo.

“To be designated as the chief-of-staff is an honor; but with it comes the challenge. I would admit that this is a very delicate time to be the chief-of-staff. So tight is the AFP’s deadline to reduce insurgency to insignificance and so determined is your armed forces that in these final months, the enemies of the state are pushing back so hard,” said Bangit.

Bangit said there was a need for the AFP to be modernized in order to give our country the kind of service that it deserves.

“So critical is this forthcoming elections that all possible scenarios – even the most unlikely scenario that I am here to destroy democracy – have been brought to the fore,” said Bangit.

Despite all these burdens he has been through in his career, Bangit said his critics insist that his appointment is some sort of a reward or a prize.

“I have had more than 32 years in service; and I have learned that the most difficult responsibilities out there are wrapped in the guise of a reward,” said Bangit.

“My purpose as the chief-of-staff is to lead the Armed Forces of the Philippines to render professional and patriotic service worthy of the Filipino people’s respect. I am not the kind of commander who will lead our soldiers astray. I will not allow anybody to use me for partisan politics. I will only allow myself to be used by God,” he said.

Bangit said the armed forces have been shaken and tossed into the turbulent currents of the history of our country. Likewise, a soldier’s life has always been in consonance to where this country has been led. We have been under several presidents. Each commander-in-chief has, at some point, led your armed forces to where they think this country should be. In some unfortunate twists in history, the credibility of your armed forces has been doubted. We have moved on and improved ourselves every time. But our people seemed to have carried the stigma until now. Is it because they have not taken a second look?“ he said.

Bangit said he can confidently say that the present AFP “has improved so much in terms of professionalism.”

“We have invested so much effort and resources to inculcate on our soldiers where their allegiance should lie. We are not above the law; we are not above our civilian leaders. We are the guardians of the Constitution, and we carry the deepest regard for our people evoked by the feelings that we have when we see our national flag,” he said.

“These are perhaps too abstract to those who do not understand the life of a soldier. I cannot find a more accurate description of a soldier’s life than what Charles de Gaulle has said and i quote: “You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin, and finally your soul.” In much the same way, Bangit said a soldier’s life is like that. The longer you stay in the military service, the more you feel that you are part of it and that you are called to contribute with all your abilities – and with all your soul,” he added.

Bangit said his career did not start at the Presidential Security Group which he commanded during the early years of the Macapagal-Arroyo presidency. He said his career started 32 years ago, as a young lieutenant who was deployed to the battlefield in the service of the nation.

“My career did not start when I was assigned in PSG, as most people are inclined to think. My career started in the struggle and sacrifice first felt in separation from one’s family when I was a young lieutenant. Early on, we were trained to ignore our pains and forget our comforts. Then I was sent to the battlefields fighting for the freedom and safety of our countrymen. I rose from the ranks just by doing my best every single day, praying that God would continue to inspire me despite the sight of death among my comrades who died fighting, despite the imperfections of our organization, and most of all, despite the absence of appreciation from my countrymen,” he said.

Bangit added: “I reached PSG and gave the same professional and dedicated service. Every single day, I had to make sure that our country has a President who is alive to serve you. I have done my duty well. But ever since I left PSG, every time I got promoted, people think that I was there either because I kowtowed, or because I will be used for something illegal. As you know, even my assumption as the chief of staff is not without those doubts. What happened to my years of hard work and sacrifice? Will I taint my name and betray our people in this time when our country needs faithful service the most? Definitely not,” he said.

Bangit said the reason why he has respect for President Macapagal -Arroyo is because after all these years, “never have I received illegal orders from her. I am sorry if that is not what you want to hear, but that is the truth. Despite this, some people have made up their minds to believe that mere association with the President makes one a bad leader,” he said.

Bangit stressed he is just among many of our soldiers who dedicate their lives for this country. He said he is just among the soldiers who just try, each day, to be professional despite the accusations to the contrary.

“Maybe now you can clearly see how frustrating it is for a Filipino soldier to have his sacrifices and professionalism ignored, just because of too much politicking.

“I understand that our people are just exercising extreme cautiousness in this critical time. I do not begrudge that. But i would be remiss in my duty as the father of the AFP if I would not speak up against it. So today, I plead: please, please spare your armed forces from politics. We could do more for our country if you let us focus on our mission,” he pointed out.(PNA)V3/VR

Liberal Party standard-bearer Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to order the National Printing Office (NPO) to stop printing the name of disqualified Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) presidential candidate Vetallano Acosta in the official ballots for the May 10, 2010 polls.

With this, the LP presidential aspirant is also asking the poll body to replace those ballots that were earlier printed with Acosta’s name on them.

In his eight-page motion, Aquino, through his lawyer, Atty. Sixto Brillantes, said the poll body should remove the name of the former KBL standard-bearer from the ballot since he had been declared a nuisance candidate.

“By virtue of the said en banc resolution declaring Acosta a nuisance candidate, there is no legal and valid reason for his name to appear in the official ballots being printed by the NPO,” part of the motion read.

It added, “In order to give effect to the Commission resolution declaring Acosta a non-candidate for being a nuisance, justice and fairness demands that his name should not be printed in the official ballots, otherwise, the Commission en banc resolution declaring Acosta a nuisance candidate would turn out to be a useless and toothless verdict.”

Acosta was declared a nuisance candidate by the Commission last March 4.

Earlier, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal had said they could not anymore remove Acosta’s name in the ballots since they have already printed millions of copies of it.

He added that it would be very costly and time consuming if they will reprint the ballots, since they need to buy paper, which is going to be imported from Canada, and that they need to reconfigure the printing machines. (PNA)
scs/FGP/utb

The Department of Education (DepEd), one of the government agencies actively involved in the May 2010 elections, conducted a voter’s education forum for employees to better appreciate election automation.

DepEd has allotted time to conduct this activity to familiarize its employees on how the new system of conducting the electoral process works. It also allowed the participants to experience the actual shading of the training ballots and the use of the precinct count optical scanner (PCOS) machines.

Training ballots were of the same size as the actual ballots that will be used on May 10. However, a different set of names was used.

The event was among the activities prepared by DepEd’s Staff Development Division (SDD) as part of the celebration of Women’s Month.

“DepEd central office staff will not man the polling precinct. However, since they are voters themselves and this is a new system, they also deserve to know how the new process works prior to the actual elections,” said Nerissa Losaria, SDD Head.

For its part, Comelec said the purpose of the automated election system is to increase accuracy in counting and reduce time for canvassing.

“This is the reason why we are pushing for election automation” explained Atty. Adolfo Ibañez, director of the Comelec’s Personnel Department, the forum speaker.

Meanwhile, outgoing education secretary Jesli Lapus said that public school teachers who will man the polls in May 2010 are expected to get a total of P4,300 for their services even as teachers’ training for the automated elections will start on March 2010.

Lapus said: “Our teachers need to be fully compensated as they perform central roles in this political exercise.”

DepEd Undersecretary Franklin Sunga said “DepEd has been closely coordinating with COMELEC on the appropriate compensations our teachers deserve for their election duty in May 2010.”

Those who will participate in the 2010 elections are expected to receive the following: members of the Board of Election Inspectors including the chair will get P3,000 each, plus P300 transportation allowance. Another P500 will be given for the inspection, verification, and sealing of book of voters plus another P500 for the inspection, verification, and sealing of the PCOS.

Likewise, team leaders (school heads, principals and education supervisors who are not members of the BEI) who will supervise certain precincts will receive P3,000.

Janitors and messengers who will be assigned in certain precincts during the elections will get P1,500 while members of board of canvassers in the municipal, city and provincial levels will get P5,000.

Sunga added that COMELEC will also set aside P30-million as part of the teacher compensation deal. This amount will be allotted for election-related death or injuries that may be sustained by DepEd employees in the performance of their duties. The heirs of the deceased official/employee shall be given the amount of P200,000.

He added that teachers’ organizations such as the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), and the Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers (ASSERT) welcomed the positive outcome of their demands from the COMELEC. (PNA)
V3/HCT/mec

One of the legacies of the Arroyo administration when she steps down this June would be the automated process of the May 10, 2010 national and local elections.

RA 8436 or the Election Automation Act of 1997 was passed to give the Commission on Elections (Comelec) authority to use automated election system for vote counting and canvassing in the scheduled polls.

The law will provide for the generation of a national computerized voters list, establish a voters identification card system and the automation of the vote counting.

However, the law was amended by Republic Act No. 9369, or the Amended Automated Elections Law, which prescribes full automation of the country’s electoral exercise.

The automation law was supposed to be implemented in the May 2007 elections but the Comelec had to postpone it citing lack of time for preparations.

A partial automation was conducted in 2007, modernizing the registration and vote counting process of the Autonomous Region in Muslin Mindanao (ARMM).

Two machines were used in the elections — the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) which was utilized in Maguindanao and the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) which was used in Shariff Kabunsuan, Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-tawi and Basilan.

The OMR technology calls for voters to mark or shade the ballot while the machine will read it for counting and transmittal of the results. On the other hand, the DRE is a touch screen equipment displaying the picture and names of the candidate in the computer.

The Comelec, meanwhile, said they cannot afford to lease both technology for the May 2010 polls, that is why they decided to use a modern version of the OMR, which is now known as the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the use of the new technology will reduce cases of fraud and cheating. It likewise lessens election complaints since the system will be fast and accurate.

The PCOS is a ballot-based system wherein voters will mark his/her choices on a ballot that features security markings. The ballot will be fed into the machines, which records and stores the votes.

After a rigorous bidding process, Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) won the process by giving the least price at P7.2 billion for the supply of 82,200 PCOS.

Smartmatic is based in Netherlands with branches in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Barbados, Spain, Taiwan and the Philippines .

The TIM, on the other hand, is a Filipino solutions company established in 1985 with banks and the Land Transportation Office as its major clients.

On February 27, the last batch of the machines arrived in the country, beating the deadline set by the poll body by one day.

The poll body has started printing the ballots in early February, with the more than two million ARMM ballots first in line. The ARMM ballots are two inches longer for having Arabic translation

The printing of the 25-inch ballots for the rest of the country has started two weeks ago. It is expected to be completed on April 25.

The country has 50,234,273 registered voters. (PNA)
DCT/FGP

Ousted Bulacan Governor Joselito “Jon-jon” Mendoza filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, asking for a review of the “queer” rulings of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division which also unseated Isabela Governor Grace Padaca and Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio.

In a 16-page supplemental petition, Mendoza, through his lawyer Sixto Brillantes, said that the “pattern in all of the three protest cases is most ominous…All three protestees — Mendoza, Padaca and Panlilio — are opposition governors belonging to the Liberal Party…All were duly proclaimed winners, but in the decision/s at the Comelec Division level, their winning margins were wiped out…The decisions were all rendered by the very same members of the Second Division of the Comelec.”

Mendoza also asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a status quo order and stop the Comelec from implementing its order declaring Roberto Pagdanganan as the winner in the May 2007 Bulacan gubernatorial race.

In a March 5 resolution, the Comelec Second Division, voting 3-3-1, granted Pagdanganan’s motion for immediate execution and directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to implement its ruling installing Pagdanganan as Bulacan governor.

Mendoza said the supplemental petition is also to prevent bloodshed in the provincial capitol where there is rising tension caused by a stand-off between their supporters.

“There is something terribly wrong in the adjudication of the above case — both in the division level and in the en banc for which the honorable court should not allow to bear any further illicit consequences through the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order/status quo ante order,” Mendoza said in his petition.

Padaca and Panlilio’s appeals are still pending before the seven-man Comelec en banc, three members of which are the members of the Comelec Second Division, namely, Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph.

In Mendoza’s case, the three stood by their division ruling when the case reached the Comelec en banc.

Mendoza said that under Rule 18, Section 6 of the Comelec’s rules of procedure, as pointed out in Commissioner Sarmiento’s dissent, since no majority was reached, the election protest filed against him by Pagdanganan “should have been dismissed after no majority vote was obtained by the respondent (Obet) after rehearing.”

“The dire consequence of the three Comelec Second Division commissioners… is the feared domino effect on two more gubernatorial protests already resolved by the very same second division, and currently awaiting resolution before the Comelec en banc,” Mendoza said referring to Panlilio and Padaca.

Mendoza filed the supplemental petition after the Comelec en banc issued an order on March 5, 2010 denying his motion for reconsideration and affirming its earlier order granting Pagdanganan’s motion for immediate execution of its decision mandating Mendoza to cease and desist from performing the function of governor of Bulacan and vacate the office in favor of Pagdanganan. (PNA)
scs/PTR

Teachers who are serving as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) in the May 10, 2010 polls will be receiving a total of P4,300 as allowance and basic honoraria, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Based on a resolution promulgated by the poll body last week, the teachers will be getting P1,300 each apart from their P3,000 honoraria.

“In addition, each (BEI member) shall receive P500 for the Inspection, Verification and Sealing of Book of Voters; P500 for the Testing and Sealing of Machines; and P300 for one-time transportation allowance,” the poll body said.

The Comelec also granted service credits of three days for the BEI members.

Under the law, teachers will be getting P1,000 as honorarium for each day of service.

For the May polls, teachers are set to work for three days — the day before the elections, on Election Day and the day after elections.

Some 240,000 teachers are going to be deployed in almost 74,000 clustered precincts all over the country.

Meanwhile, it is not only the BEI members who will get additional compensation. Their support staff will also be given honorarium and service credits, the poll body said.

“Support Staff shall receive an honorarium of P1,500 each and service credits for three days of service,” the resolution said.

Clustered precincts composed of three polling precincts shall be entitled to one additional support staff; four precincts with two support staff members; and those with five to seven clustered precincts with three.

On the other hand, the poll body will be allocating a total of P30 million budget for the insurance of BEI members.

“In case of death while in the performance of election duties, the heirs of the deceased official/employee shall be given the amount of P200,000,” the resolution added. (PNA)
scs/FGP/rsm

MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan – Some 100 policemen will be deployed strategically at the heavily- barricaded provincial capitol compound here to ensure that no untoward incident happens when Roberto Pagdanganan assumes his post as the elected governor of the province on March 8.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to implement on Monday the poll body’s March 4 resolution affirming its earlier decision to unseat Governor Joselito “Jonjon” Mendoza in favor of Pagdanganan.

Bulacan acting police director Senior Supt. Edgardo Tinio said the Bulacan Police Provincial Office (BPPO) will see to it that the gubernatorial row, which has been rocking the province for several months now, will be settled without violence.

Tinio said that well-trained police teams from the Provincial Public Safety Management Company headed by Supt. Manuel M. Lukban Jr. have been strategically posted at the capitol compound since Friday when both supporters of Mendoza and Pagdanganan gathered at the compound — Mendoza’s supporters in front of the capitol building and Pagdanganan’s group at the nearby forest park.

Pagdanganan on Friday night vowed to retake the office of the governor at the provincial capitol Monday morning. He said he will assume his post peacefully and in accordance with law.

Pagdanganan’s pronouncements came moments after he took his oath of office for the second time in a month before his legal counsel, Joey Cruz, and hours after he secured a copy of the writ of execution from the Comelec on Friday.

The Comelec has ordered the immediate execution of its ruling declaring Pagdanganan as the rightful winner of the May 2007 local polls over Mendoza.

In a five-page resolution issued last Friday, the Comelec en banc also denied Mendoza’s appeal.

The poll body also ordered the Comelec Clerk and the Electoral Contest and Adjudication Department (ECAD) to issue a writ of execution to the Provincial Election Supervisor of Bulacan and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) ordering Mendoza to vacate his office in favor of Pagdanganan, a former governor.

Mendoza, however, warned that violence might erupt if Pagdanganan and his supporters will force their way at the capitol, where he and his supporters are holed up since Thursday night.

Government trucks and heavy equipment have also been placed in five entry points, blocking roads leading to the capitol.

Mendoza said he would not step down unless it is the Supreme Court that would order him to do so.

He stressed that he has 30 days to appeal the Comelec en banc decision or get a favorable ruling from the high court.

Provincial Elections Supervisor Sabino Mejarito on Saturday said that he will implement the writ of execution by Monday if Mendoza failed to secure a temporary restraining order. (PNA)
scs/zst/EGG/ps

Members of the House of Representatives on Saturday urged Speaker Prospero Nograles to take the lead in demanding for the immediate de-listing by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of all double, multiple and dead registrants from the final list of voters instead of merely putting their names in a watchlist.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the Comelec’s decision to simply put a watchlist to check all the multiple and zombie registrants is “unreliable and highly questionable, which may trigger a failure of elections in 2010.”

He noted that Congress’ duty to proclaim the winners in the presidential and national polls is being jeopardized because there would be a big debate on the duplicate registrants.

Rodriguez said it will be very difficult for Congress to make a decision once the issue on these multiple registrants is raised during canvassing.

“Three to five million multiple registrants is no joke especially with the perceived close fight among our top presidential candidates. Baka magkaroon tayo ng failure of elections kapag binalewala ito ng Comelec (We might have failure of election if the Comelec won’t act on it),” he said.

“There is no such thing as watchlist in an election and I don’t understand why the Comelec is insisting on this. Kalokohan yan (That’s nonsense),” he said.

Rodriguez added the poll body cannot claim it does not have the resources to de-list the spurious voters since it has been allotted enough funds for the elections.

“Congress allotted a P10.3-billion for the 2010 national elections, P7.2 billion of which went to poll automation. We still have P3.1 billion left which Comelec can use in cleaning the voters’ list,” he said.

Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla, on the other hand, expressed alarm over reports that the evidence of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in relation to double registration and zombie registration were taken by thieves last Thursday.

Remulla said the immediate purging of the Comelec list will ensure the holding of a clean and honest elections on May 10.

“With only a few months left before the elections, the Comelec should act with dispatch to de-list all spurious voters from the final voters’ list,” he said.

Remulla said the poll body should take seriously the PPCRV revelation that there are 40,000 flying voters in Davao City and Davao del Sur, and that this could only be the tip of the iceberg.

“The Comelec should act decisively by removing these flying voters and other spurious registrants from other areas in the country. If the PPCRV is able to exercise vigilance on spurious voters, why can’t the Comelec start acting now by cleaning the voters’ list?” he said.

“Why is it difficult for the Comelec to simply delete all these multiple and dead registrants? It’s easier to do this than just putting up a watchlist,” he added.

Remulla said the Speaker, in behalf of all House members, should relay the lawmakers’ concerns and demand from the Comelec to de-list double, multiple and dead registrants from its list.

“The Speaker is in the best position to do this because of the possibility of ‘dagdag-bawas’ taking place in Davao City after the discovery by the PPCRV of spurious registrants in his home city,” he said.

Nograles is running for the mayoralty post in Davao City in this year’s election.

PPCRV counsel Howard Calleja earlier said that if the 40,000 multiple registrations will be multiplied to the country’s 80 provinces, this would result in having three to four million flying voters.

For his part, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said the Speaker, as the top leader of the House, should ask the Comelec to immediately cleanse the voters’ list of zombie voters.

“The Speaker has the authority to air our concerns especially on this issue. Everyone wants an assurance from the Comelec that the coming elections will be clean and honest, and there’s no better way for the Comelec to prove its will and commitment than to purge these spurious voters from the final registrants’ list,” he said.

Albano said the poll body has the exclusive and absolute power and authority to de-list all double, multiple and dead registrants from the voters’ list.

He said putting the spurious voters under a Comelec watchlist “will not be an effective deterrent against poll cheating.”

“Unless we de-list them, these spurious voters cannot have other means to participate in the voting. Only the Comelec can do the de-listing,” he said.

“The 3.2 million spurious registrants can make or break the elections because as we can see the top poll rivals are too close in their fight. The Speaker should really ask the Comelec to de-list these 3.2 million spurious registrants,” he added. (PNA)
scs/LGI

The Supreme Court (SC), by an 11-2 vote with one abstention, has upheld several resolutions of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) which, among others, had annulled the proclamation of Jesus O. Typoco as winner in the gubernatorial race in Camarines Norte in the May 14, 2007 elections and instead directed the proclamation of Edgardo A. Tallado.

In particular, the April 30, 2008 resolution of the Comelec’s First Division granted the petition for correction of manifest of error filed by Tallado on the ground that based on the copies in the custody of its Election Records and Statistics Division (ERSD) of the concerned Statement of Votes by Precinct (SOVP) and Certificate of Canvass of Votes (COC), the votes in the municipality of Labo, as recorded in the said documents, did not correspond.

It therefore directed the Municipal Board of Canvassers of Labo to correct the manifest error in the aforesaid COC to reflect the actual votes of the parties based on the ERSD and SOVP and submit the corrected COC to a new Provincial Board of Canvassers for the Province of Camarines Norte, which in turn was directed to proclaim Tallado as the winning gubernatorial candidate with 79,969 votes to Typoco’s 79,904.

The Comelec, however, found no irregularity in the election documents pertaining to the municipality of Jose Panganiban. The Feb. 24, 2009 resolution, issued by the Comelec en banc, denied the motion for reconsideration of Typoco.

“We find that the Comelec, in ordering the correction of manifest errors in the SOVP and COC, merely exercised its bounden duty to ascertain the true will of the electorate of the province,” the SC en banc held in a 17-page decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura.

The SC stressed that “the proclamation and assumption of office of petitioner [Typoco] based on a faulty tabulation is flawed right from the beginning, and may, therefore, be annulled.”

It also brushed aside Typoco’s contention that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when it decided the controversy based on the ERSD copies of the SOVP when the National Bureau of Investigation had found the said copies spurious. It held that the appreciation of election documents involves a question of fact best left to the determination of the Comelec, stressing that “the findings of fact of administrative bodies, when supported by substantial evidence, are final and non-reviewable by courts of justice.”

The SC noted that even Typoco himself admitted that the Comelec has the competence to determine the authenticity of election documents because it is the only entity which knows the security features or secret markings of the said documents.

“The court is not a trier of facts and function,” it said, adding that as mandated by the Constitution, its role is merely to check whether or not the governmental branch or agency has gone beyond the constitutional limits of its jurisdiction, not that it simply erred or has a different view.

The SC also did not find merit in Typoco’s contention that a recanvass of the election returns (ERs) should be undertaken in order to truly determine the mandate of the electorate.

It noted that the original petition filed before the Comelec was a pre-proclamation controversy which, ordinarily, does not involve the opening of ballot boxes or the examination and appreciation of ballots and/or election returns.

Concurring with Justice Nachura are Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno and Justices Renato C. Corona, Conchita Carpio Morales, Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo D. Brion, Lucas P. Bersamin, Roberto A. Abad, Martin S. Villarama Jr., Jose P. Perez, and Jose C. Mendoza.

Justice Presbitero J. Velasco, joined by Justice Mariano C. Del Castillo, dissented, opining that the pieces of evidence presented by Typoco “appear to be compelling as to arouse, at the minimum, reasonable suspicion that the respective copies of the SOVP Tallado presented and in the possession of the ERSD were both spurious and/or tampered.”

Senior Justice Antonio T. Carpio did not take part in the voting, while Justice Diosdado M. Peralta is on official leave.

Both Tallado and Typoco vied for the gubernatorial position in Camarines Norte in the May 14, 2007 elections. Typoco was at first proclaimed winner with 80,830 votes as against Tallado’s 78,287 votes. Subsequently, Tallado filed before the Comelec a petition for correction of manifest errors. (PNA)
scs/PFN

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has finally ruled that Roberto “Obet” Pagdanganan was the duly-elected governor of Bulacan in the May 2007 polls.

“The matter was deliberated on by the Commission en banc and the seven members maintained their respective stands — three votes concurring, one vote dissenting, three votes no part — on the resolution of the Second Division dated December 1, 2009. Hence, pursuant to Section 6, Rule 18, Comelec Rules of Procedure, the latter is deemed affirmed,” part of the Comelec’s five-page resolution read.

With the ruling, the poll body ordered the issuance of a Writ of Execution directing the provincial election supervisor of Bulacan to implement the resolution.

“The Commission is ordering Joselito Mendoza to cease- and-desist from performing the functions of the governor of the province of Bulacan and to vacate the said office in favor of Roberto Pagdanganan,” the resolution added.

Last month, the Comelec en banc ruled that Pagdanganan was the winner of the gubernatorial race in the province, but they needed a rehearing after failure to achieve the required majority votes.

Under Comelec rules, a rehearing is required in cases of impasse in a bid to see if the members of the en banc would change their minds. If the voting of the members of the en banc remains the same, the ruling of the division will be honored.

In the latest decision, the members of the Second Division — Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph — maintained their earlier vote to grant the win to Pagdanganan while Commissioner Rene Sarmiento dissented.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo and First Division members Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal and Armando Velasco maintained their previous decisions to take no part in the ruling.

Based on the Comelec’s count, Pagdanganan garnered a margin of 4,321 votes over Mendoza’s 337,974 votes.

The decision was a reversal of the 2007 proclamation made by the Provincial Board of Canvassers, where Mendoza was found to have garnered a total of 364,566 votes as against Pagdanganan’s 348,834 votes for a margin of 15,732 votes. (PNA)
scs/FGP/utb