Re-electionist solon declared winner in Leyte

Re-electionist Rep. Ma. Victoria Locsin has been proclaimed winner in the congressional race in Leyte’s fourth district after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) disqualified her opponent, outgoing Ormoc City Mayor Eufrocino Codilla Sr.

The provincial board of canvassers proclaimed Locsin on the basis of a resolution of the Comelec’s second division unanimously disqualifying Codilla.

The division is chaired by Commissioner Ralph Lantion with Commissioners Mehol Sadain and Florentino Tuason Jr. as members.

In disqualifying Locsin’s opponent, Lantion and his colleagues have established an "undisputed" fact – that to enhance his candidacy, Codilla "took advantage of his position (as Ormoc mayor) by indirectly soliciting votes from registered voters in Kanangga and Matag-ob (two towns in the fourth district)."

The Comelec found the mayor to have used equipment and vehicles owned by the Ormoc City government in extracting, hauling and distributing gravel and sand to residents and voters of the two municipalities within the prohibited period before the election.

The Comelec officials said the mayor violated Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code.

The petition to disqualify Codilla was filed by Josephine de la Cruz, a registered voter in Kanangga town.

During the hearings, Codilla did not deny that city vehicles and equipment were indeed used in the hauling and distribution of gravel and sand in the two towns.

But he reasoned out that the city engineering office did the questioned maintenance, repair and rehabilitation work without his authority and participation.

Lantion and his colleagues did not buy the mayor’s argument.

They said Codilla, as mayor, "is duty-bound to take control and supervise all activities of all his subordinates, including the office of the city engineer."

They said what was suspicious was the fact that the distribution of gravel and sand to residents and voters was not in the city of Ormoc but in areas outside the mayor’s jurisdiction and within the fourth congressional district of Leyte, where he ran for congressman.