Canoy opposes motion to dispense with PCOS authentication

CEBU, Philippines - San Fernando Cebu mayor-elect Antonio Canoy is opposing the motion that outgoing Mayor Lakambini Reluya filed to dispense with the authentication of PCOS machines.

The two are currently locked in a legal battle after Reluya filed a protest to question the result of last May’s elections.

Reluya had filed a motion to do away with the authentication of the PCOS machines, but Canoy, in a memorandum he submitted to the court, said that Reluya only wants to “advance” her “unfounded” election protest.

Further, Canoy stated that Reluya could not just ask that of the court “just to uphold (her) whims.”

“The allegations in support of the protestant’s motion are devoid of factual basis,” Canoy stated.   The mayor-elect also said that Reluya’s motion to dispense with the authentication of PCOS machines of contested ballots is “a clear violation” of the 2010 Rules of Procedure for Municipal Election Contests promulgated by the Supreme Court on April 27, 2010.

He cited Rule 10, Sec. 6 paragraph E which states that prior to the actual revision, the revision committee “must authenticate each and every ballot to make sure that it was the same ballots cast and fed to the PCOS machine during the voting.” The authentication, the law states, shall be through the use of the PCOS machine actually used during the elections in the subject precinct.

For Canoy, the words “must and shall” connotes the mandatory nature of the requirements in the procedure of election protest.   Reluya’s motion for the revision committee to proceed with the counting although the subject PCOS machines have yet to arrive is “like putting the cart before the horse, which results in absurdity,” Canoy further stated.

He is asking the court to deny Reluya’s motion for lack of merit.

“There shall be no room for interpretation, only room for application. It is the fundamental duty of the Honorable Court to apply the mandate of the law regardless of who may be affected, even if the law is harsh or how protestant perceived it to be,” according to Canoy.

Reluya, in her motion, had explained that to save time and avoid delays in the resolution of her election protest, she is asking the Revision Committee of Regional Trial Court to dispense with the authentication of the precinct count optical scan machines in the 47 ballot boxes. — THE FREEMAN