The Commission on Elections proclaimed Roberto Uy Jr. as the official winner of the 2022 race for first district representative of Zamboanga del Norte, reaffirming an earlier decision of the Supreme Court that invalidated the proclamation of Romeo Jalosjos Jr.
The petitioners earlier questioned Comelec for proclaiming Jalosjos Jr. as the winner of the elections after the poll body declared a certain Frederico “Kuya Jan” Jalosjos as a nuisance bet and credited all his votes to Jalosjos Jr.
Uy was originally ahead of Jalosjos Jr. in the May 9 race, with a slim margin of 482 votes.
However, with the Comelec issuing a final and executory ruling, the 5,424 votes that F. Jalosjos received during the polls were credited to Jalosjos Jr..
The Supreme Court said Comelec declared F. Jalosjos a nuisance bet solely based on the alleged erroneous use of a nickname, without considering that he is a member of a political party and that there was a clear difference in their names in the printed ballots.
Jalosjos Jr., in his petition to declare F. Jalosjos as a nuisance candidate, claimed his election rival was never known to be “Kuya Jan,” which he said sounded similar to his own nickname “Kuya Jonjon.”
“In Uy’s case, the Comelec, motu proprio, ordered the suspension of his proclamation even though the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) had a clear basis to proclaim Uy as the winning candidate, having garnered the highest number of votes,” the High Court said.
The SC also noted that despite similarities, the striking difference in the names of “Jalosjos, Kuya Jan (NUP)” and “Jalosjos, Jr., Romeo (NP)” on the ballots was more than enough to distinguish the entries.