Comelec forms new board to proclaim winning candidates in Antique
For the second time the Commission on Elections (Comelec) formed a new provincial board of canvassers that will proclaim the winning candidates in the province of Antique.
In a five-page order promulgated on Friday, the Comelec's First Division, composed of Commissioners Resurreccion Borra and Romeo Brawner, relieved the special provincial board of canvassers (SPBOC) it created on June 7.
The SPBOC, chaired by Comelec Western Visayas director Renato Magbutay, was formed to replace the regular PBOC chaired by Antique provincial election supervisor Gil Barcenal after the PBOC also failed to proclaim the winning candidates of the province.
The SPBOC was replaced by a new one chaired by lawyer Daisy Real, Acting Director III of the Comelec's Planning Department, with members Jesse Suarez, Negros Occidental election officer (vice chairperson), and Bacolod City election officer Mavil Majarucun (secretary).
In the same order, the poll body dismissed for lack of merit the appeal of former assemblyman Arturo Pacificador questioning the legality of the creation and composition of the previous SPBOC.
The new SPBOC was ordered to convene after all parties have been notified and to proclaim the winning candidates. Suarez served notices of the convening of the new PBOC to all concerned parties yesterday.
Real said in a telephone interview that they are scheduled to convene the new SPBOC and to proclaim the winning candidates on June 29, a day before the terms of office of incumbent officials end.
She said the former SPBOC was replaced because of a pending case of indirect contempt and insubordination against its members filed by reelectionist Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez.
"We see no further delays in the proclamation and we will exercise the mandate of the Commission," said Real.
In a 16-page petition filed on June 20, Perez asked the Comelec to cite in direct contempt Magbutay and the other members of the previous PBOC, Comelec Assistant Regional Director Tomas Valera and Iloilo provincial election officer Elizabeth Doronila.
She said in her petition that the decision of the previous SPBOC to suspend her proclamation and 11 other winning candidates of the province last June 15 is "highly contemptuous" because the board entertained Pacificador's objection to the SPOC composition.
The governor also asked the poll body to administratively sanction and to suspend the members of the previous SPBOC "for its act of gross insubordination" for allegedly failing to abide the First Division's June 7 order to proceed with the canvassing and proclamation of winning candidates.
Perez had also filed criminal charges against members of the PBOC for failing to proclaim the winning candidates.
Perez is leading the elections based on election returns from the province's 18 municipalities with 68,867 votes against Pacificador who got 55,502 votes and Jovito Plameras who garnered 54,062 votes.