Isabela canvassing to resume today

CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela — The canvassing of certificates of canvass (COCs) from eight remaining Isabela towns which got stalled last Monday with the resignation of members of the provincial board of canvassers, will finally resume today.

This, as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) appointed three lawyers — Emmanuel Ignacio, Joel Allones and Michael Valdez — to constitute the new provincial board of canvassers.

Ignacio and Allones were earlier sent to Nueva Ecija to supervise the canvassing in the hotly contested gubernatorial fight between re-electionist Gov. Tomas Joson III and former Rep. Julita Villareal.

Isabela’s own gubernatorial race has been hogging the headlines because a broadcaster and polio victim, Grace Padaca, leads incumbent Gov. Faustino Dy by more than 40,000 votes in the final and unofficial count of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).

Padaca similarly leads in the Comelec canvassing before it was suspended — Padaca, of Aksyon Demokratiko, had 145,954 votes against the 125,712 votes of Dy, national president of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Padaca’s rise appears to be a threat to the Dy clan’s stronghold of Isabela politics for more than three decades.

The uncanvassed COCs come from the towns of Angadanan, Cordon, San Agustin, Ramon, Jones, Cabatuan, San Mariano and Ilagan. Isabela has a total of 36 towns.

Despite his standing in the Namfrel count and in the partial canvassing, Dy remains defiant, saying, "I will win by 15,000 to 20,000 votes over my rival."

"I am basing my estimates on the official returns retrieved by my own poll watchers," he said. "Our own final tally (showed) that I am ahead by 15,000 to 20,000 votes."

Dy said at least 70 percent of the 196,000 registered voters in the eight towns, which he said are his bailiwicks, voted for him.

He said these votes could cover the present lead of 44-year-old Padaca, whose candidacy was backed by a multisectoral coalition calling itself the Isabela United Opposition.

Bishop Sergio Utleg, of the Diocese of Ilagan, however, is unfazed by Dy’s pronouncements.

"Where will he get the votes to cover Padaca’s insurmountable lead?" said Utleg, one of the convenors of the United Isabela Opposition.

The bishop said Dy’s statements might indicate a "sinister plot" against the will of the people.

"Our people have spoken. Why can’t he accept the verdict?" he said.

Dy has asked the Comelec to transfer the canvassing to its central office in Manila but the poll body has yet to act on his petition.