The Commission on Elections Second Division has dismissed an election protest filed by former Bacolod mayor Evelio Leonardia against incumbent Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez for being “improperly filed” and “insufficient in form and content.”
However, in compliance with COMELEC Rules of Procedure the case was referred to the Law Department for further investigation of the alleged violation of the Omnibus Election Code for vote-buying, illegal campaigning, wearing of uniforms and bearing of arms, the order issued Wednesday, September 7, said.
“It bears stressing that the process of manual recount is not a tool intended to replace proof with suppositions or evidence with assumptions. Baseless and unsubstantiated protest remains impermissible in order to fully protect the true will of the electorate as truthfully reflected in the results of the elections,” the eight-page order signed by COMELEC Presiding Commissioner Marlon Casquejo and Commissioner Rey Bulay said.
“Though defeat in any elections is desolating for the losing candidate, an election protest must not be mused as a vindication of a lost opportunity to serve the public, or worst an unjustified assertion of wounded pride,” it said.
Leonardia in his petition filed on May 20 sought the nullification of the proclamation of Benitez as mayor of Bacolod. Benitez won with 171,893 votes in the May 9 polls, while Leonardia had 107,447 votes.
Benitez, in his verified answer on June 13, sought the dismissal of the election protest saying the allegations and evidence used by Leonardia were “false, misleading and imaginary since they were unsubstantiated and self-serving”.
He also asked that the protest be outrightly dismissed for being grossly deficient in form and content.
The Second Division order said a thorough review of the case leaves it with no other recourse but to dismiss the election protest of Leonardia.
The petition is replete with statements of alleged vote buying, illegal campaigning and the presence of police officers in polling precincts, the Second Division noted.
It said the election protest does not obviously call for a recount of ballots or re-tabulation of election returns which are considered the heart of any protest case.
The protestant failed to specify and substantiate statements in the election protest that would distinctly show how and where occurrences of fraud, vote buying and other irregularities were committed, it added.
It is required to specify the precincts where fraud, vote buying or irregularities were committed and how they took place, the order said.
“In fact not a single affidavit of witness was attached to the petition to substantiate the allegations”, the order said.
DIGICAST NEGROS is awaiting the reply of the Leonardia camp.*