Valenzuela canvass chief dies; congressmen proclaimed

The rigors and punishing demands of counting the votes, way up to the wee hours of the morning since Monday this week, took its toll on the 56-year-old chief of the Valenzuela City Board of Canvassers early this morning as he prepared to take a rest in a house he was temporarily staying in Manila.

Lawyer Mohamad Hassan, a native of Marawi City and provincial election supervisor of Masbate in Bicol prior to being pulled out and assigned to Valenzuela for the canvassing, died of heart failure at around 4 a.m. yesterday.

Initial reports said Hassan experienced difficulty in breathing as he was dressing up in his room in a house in Sampaloc, Manila. He died while being taken to the University of Sto. Tomas Hospital, authorities said.

Hassan went home at around 2 a.m. shortly after proclaiming former city mayor Jose Emmanuel "Bobbit" Carlos (Lakas-CMD) and Antonio Serapio as congressmen-elect of the first and second districts, respectively, at the Valenzuela City Convention Center. At his house, Hassan reportedly dragged his tired body to take a hot shower, but failed to make it as he suffered an attack.

Hassan’s untimely death, virtually with his boots on, cast a pall of gloom at the canvassing center, but has earned praises for the late election officer’s dedication to the call of duty. Carlos yesterday sent his condolences to the family of the late Comelec officer.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has sent lawyer Sheila Roxas to take the place vacated by the late Hasaan in the city board of canvassers. Roxas has intimated earlier the proclamation of the mayor-elect will proceed in a few hours.

At presstime, however, this paper gathered that it will have to be postponed after second-running (in Comelec official partial figures) former city Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo I protested over alleged defective election returns yet to be canvassed.– With Pete Laude