Zamboanga del Norte congressional bet decries proclamation of Jalosjos Jr.

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Roberto “Pinpin” Uy Jr., who says he obtained the highest number of votes as representative of Zamboanga del Norte, has decried the inaction of the Supreme Court (SC) on his petitions that resulted in the proclamation of the second placer as the winning candidate.

Uy’s camp said results showed that he obtained 69,591 votes while Romeo Jalosjos Jr. got 69,109 votes.

Uy said the provincial board of canvassers (PBOC) stopped his proclamation after the canvassing of votes on May 11 as ordered by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which was hearing the petition filed by Jalosjos Jr. to declare Frederico Jalosjos a nuisance candidate at the time.

The Comelec declared Frederico a nuisance candidate on June 7 and ordered the 5,424 votes he obtained to be credited to Jalosjos Jr.

On June 8, Uy filed a motion for the issuance of a temporary restraining order to stop the Comelec’s action.

However, the poll body issued a notice of certificate of finality on June 14 denying the motion for reconsideration filed by Frederico and declared him a nuisance candidate.

The Comelec declared as final and executory the order to credit Frederico’s votes in favor of Jalosjos Jr. It also issued a writ of execution directing the PBOC to reconvene on June 23 and proclaim Jalosjos Jr., who originally obtained the second highest number of votes, as the duly elected representative of the first district of Zamboanga del Norte.

In response, Uy filed a manifestation that Jalosjos Jr. was proclaimed without due notice to Uy’s camp.

Uy also filed a petition before the SC to annul the Comelec order cancelling the certificate of candidacy of Frederico as a nuisance candidate and direct the PBOC to proclaim him as winner.

He lamented that the SC did not act on any of his petitions.