Taguig recount to proceed

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) ordered last week the retrieval of the ballot boxes involved in the electoral protest case filed against incumbent Taguig City Mayor Ma. Laarni Cayetano by her rival, Dante Tinga.

Voting 5-2, the Comelec, in a full court session, also denied the “verified motion for reconsideration” filed by Cayetano on Nov. 14, 2011 for “lack of merit” and said the poll body “shall no longer entertain any pleading concerning any matter” covered by the order.

The poll body’s first division will “as soon as possible, schedule the retrieval of the contested ballot boxes for the purpose of the revision or recount of the contested ballots without further postponement, unless ordered otherwise by higher authority or prevented by force majeure,” the Comelec’s resolution stated.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, a former election lawyer of Tinga, did not vote while Commissioner Lucenito Tagle inhibited himself from the case.

Tinga, a former Supreme Court associate justice, lost to Cayetano by 2,420 votes in the May 2010 polls but filed an electoral protest and sought a recount.

In August and September 2010, the Comelec’s second division ordered the retrieval of the ballot boxes from the Taguig City Hall but the facility was barricaded by Cayetano’s supporters.

In April last year, the case was transferred to the first division after Cayetano questioned the partiality of second division members Tagle and Commissioner Elias Yusoph.