Will the winning candidates in Antique be finally proclaimed today?
A special board of canvassers (SPBOC) appointed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to proclaim this Friday the winning candidates in Antique province led by Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez.
The SPBOC chaired by lawyer Daisy Real, Acting Director III of the Comelec's Planning Department, will convene at the old provincial capitol in the capital town of San Jose in Antique to finish the canvassing of votes and proclaim Perez and 11 other officials of the province.
The SPBOC is also composed of lawyer Jesse Suarez, Negros Occidental election officer (vice chairperson), and Bacolod City election officer Mavil Majarucun (secretary).
The SPBOC was formed in a June 22 order by the Comelec's First Division to replace the previous SPBOC chaired by Comelec regional director Renato Magbutay after the previous board failed to proclaim the winning candidates.
The previous board was replaced because of a pending case of indirect contempt and insubordination against its members filed by Perez.
Perez, who is leading former assemblyman Arturo Pacificador by more than 13,000 votes, asked the Comelec in her petition to cite Magbutay and two other members of the previous SPBOC in direct contempt
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 is confident that her confirmation will push through after two previous failures of the board of canvassers to do so. She has scheduled an inaugural rite for the elected officials this Saturday.
But Pacificador on June 25 filed before the Comelec en banc a petition questioning the appointment and composition of the SPOC. He said he will question the legality of the new SPBOC when it convenes today.
The poll body's First Division had dismissed for lack of merit the appeal of Pacificador questioning the legality of the creation and composition of the previous SPBOC.