BONTOC, Mt. Province – Two and a half months after the mid-term elections, when almost all elected local officials have warmed up to their positions, the Mt. Province town of Paracelis still has no vice mayor and eighth councilor.
The reason: a special balloting has yet to be scheduled after a ballot box containing election paraphernalia was snatched by unidentified men on May 14, election day, in Sitio Paradi in Buringal, the remotest barangay of Paracelis.
Three armed men barged into a polling precinct in Buringal and carted away the ballot box and all election records, police said.
According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the polling precinct has 237 registered voters, thus the ballots there could materially affect the results of the vice mayoral race since only 93 votes separate the top two contenders, as well as the eighth slot in the municipal council.
Excluding the votes from Paradi, vice mayor candidate Raul Lapon has 3,467 votes against Pedro Almeda’s 3,374. Another candidate, Eduardo Sullay is at third place with 2,295 votes.
The contest for the eighth slot in the Sangguniang Bayan could also be affected since only 167 votes separate the eighth and ninth placers.
The Comelec and the Philippine National Police have tried their best to recover the missing election materials, but failed and could not even pinpoint any suspect.
The Comelec has ordered a special election in Paradi, but has yet to set the date.
Paradi residents have petitioned for the conduct of the special balloting in their barangay and not in any other place.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), however, has ruled that even without a vice mayor and the eighth councilor, the Sangguniang Bayan of Paracelis could hold sessions and exercise its legally mandated functions.
Accordingly, the DILG said the councilor who got the highest number of votes in the May 14 elections could sit as the presiding officer of the council.
“They could transact official business pending the results of the special election unless there is no quorum,” it said.