The camp of former Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia on Sunday, September 11, declined to comment on a Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Second Division decision dismissing his election protest against incumbent Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez saying their legal team has yet to receive a copy.
“Our lawyers have yet to receive a copy of the alleged decision of the Second Division of the COMELEC. As such, we cannot comment yet on the reported decision being unaware of the reasons allegedly made by the Second Division. Rest assured that our protest complied with all requirements of the COMELEC and the law,” Dr. Chris Sorongon, spokesperson of Leonardia, said.
Sorongon said their camp will exhaust all available legal remedies to ensure justice will be done for the voters of Bacolod City.
“We are wondering though where the sources of these alleged documents are coming from. We are the real party in interest but our counsel has not been furnished one even if these said documents are already swirling in media outlets,” he said.
Sorongon assured that Leonardia’s counsel will face the issues squarely at the proper time and forum.
On May 20, 2022, Leonardia, through counsels Marcus Vaflor and Jireh Alimon lodged a post-proclamation protest before the COMELEC central office in Manila, calling for a manual recount of all 450 clustered precincts and to declare a failure of elections because of alleged massive vote buying and fake voters who were allowed to cast their ballots.
The COMELEC Second Division in an eight-page order dated September 7 dismissed the election protest filed by Leonardia against Benitez for being “improperly filed” and “insufficient in form and content”.
“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 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.
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 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.
A copy of the COMELEC decision was released by the Benitez camp on Friday.*