TARLAC CITY—The Commission on Elections has dismissed the election protest against Tarlac Vice Gov. Carlito David for being insufficient in form and content and for being “problematic.”
In an eight-page order dated September 14, the poll body’s First Division threw out the election protest filed against David by his rival, Pearl Angeli Pacada.
The order was signed by Presiding Commissioner Christian Robert Lim and Commissioners Luie Tito Guia and Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon.
Pacada of Lakas-CMD lost to David of the Nationalist People’s Coalition in the May elections. David, a lawyer, garnered 207,199 votes against Pacada’s 189,956 or a difference of 17,243 votes.
However, Pacada protested the outcome and sought an examination and recount of the ballots, claiming electronic vote-padding and vote-shaving in the towns of Concepcion and Paniqui. She said votes for her were credited to David and that some of the election returns were falsified and spurious.
Pacada also claimed her defeat in the twin towns were “statistically improbable,” as more supporters pledged to vote for her than the official count shows.
David said her protest was insufficient in form and substance according to Section 9, Rule 6 of Comelec Resolution 8804 because it failed to specify the number of contested precincts in Tarlac and in the two towns and the acts or omissions he was accused of.
Pacada insisted it was sufficient since her allegations will be proven if the ballots are recounted.
The complainant was a former president of the League of Provincial Board Members of the Philippines (LPBMP) and was a former vice governor who was elected in 2010. In 2013, she ran for governor but lost to then-governor and now second district Rep. Victor Yap, brother of Gov. Susan Yap.
She protested that the automated elections make it difficult, if not impossible, to describe the irregularities with full accuracy owing to its highly technical nature.
Pacada said a detailed complaint will need a strict inspection of the voting machines and other election paraphernalia which, she said, she cannot do considering the limited time granted under the rules to file it.
The complainant said she submitted the Statement of Votes by Precinct (SOVP) that contained the total number of clustered precincts.
The Comelec ruled that Pacada’s protest contained the SOVP for vice governor only in the towns of Concepcion and Paniqui, and not the number of precincts in the province as the rules prescribe.
It said that while Pacada specified the clustered precincts in Concepcion, she failed to identify the 106 Paniqui precincts being protested.