TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division recently dismissed the instant election protest filed by defeated gubernatorial candidate Cristina Antonio against Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba.
In its decision on penned by election Commissioner Al Pareño, Arthur Lim and Sheriff Abas, the Comelec-Second Division said the election protest of Antonio was “insufficient in form and content.”
Earlier, Antonio filed an election protest contesting the proclamation of Mamba as the winner during the May 2016 elections, saying there were “massive cheating and disenfranchisement of voters.”
But the Comelec argued that Antonio failed to comply with the Section 7, Rule 6 of the Comelec Resolution No. 8804 or the Comelec Rules of Procedure on Disputes in an Automated Election, by just “simply” stipulating that the total number of voters who actually voted did not tally with the actual number of votes garnered by the gubernatorial candidates.
“The protest undeniably falls short of the required “detailed specification of the acts or omissions complained of showing the electoral frauds, anomalies or irregularities in the protested precincts” pursuant to the Section 7, Rule 6 of the Comelec Resolution No. 8804,” the decision said.
The Comelec division also said that Antonio’s claim of massive cheating and disenfranchisement of voters because of the “missing votes” for the gubernatorial are “based purely on suppositions and not on records.”
It said Antonio has failed to convince the election committee that the “missing votes” were suggestive of election fraud and irregularity.
“The protestant intends to find proofs of her suppositions and observations through the process of manual recount and this cannot be countenance by the Commission,” the Comelec-Second Division said.
The Comelec division, however, after dismissing the instant election protest, referred the protest to its law department for proper investigation on the claims of Antonio.
The Northern Forum sought for Antonio’s comments on the decision but is yet to receive response. TNF
