Court seals victory of Iloilo vice mayor
A local Court sealed the victory of an Iloilo town vice mayor after seven months of legal maneuverings. The 18-paged Decision, as obtained by The News Today (TNT) virtually ended any hopes of continued political dominance of the widely-admired former mayor here.
As such, the holidays are merrier for Calinog Vice Mayor Salvador Divinagracia Jr. and his legions of followers. This, as advisers of the vice-mayor's protagonist – former Mayor Alex Centena will reportedly push for an appeal as a matter of legal option.
Center of the Court case docketed as Election Case No. 07-2007 were 13 disputed votes in seven of the town's precincts. Judge Danilo Galvez of Branch 24 6th Regional Trial Court (RTC) heard from a total of 14 witnesses presented by Centena including himself as the "protestant." Divinagracia Jr. as the "protestee" argued his defense with 21 other witnesses.
The disputed votes, Centena told the Court, could have overturned the electoral results had it been counted properly. Further still, the former mayor said, these were all "marked votes" thus wanting of the Court's intervention.
Centena lost to Divinagracia by a 13-point difference with total votes canvassed in his favor at 8,123. The Municipal Board of Canvassers declared Divinagracia the winner with 8,141 votes proving "13" to be unlucky for the former mayor and lucky for his opponent.
The legal exchanges heard specifics of the alleged "marked votes" with most of these coming from a hinterland barangay. The name "Ruby" raised the biggest suspicion following the discovery that a number of ballots read bore said name under the choices for senators.
Former Mayor Centena insisted that clearly, "Ruby" and some five other names reflected in the disputed ballots were the supposed secret markings, a blatant electoral offense.
Vice Mayor Divinagracia for his part had a ready explanation with no less than the supposed "Ruby" appearing then in Court.
Turned out that the village with the questioned votes has a significant literacy problem with the local teacher here named "Ruby."
They wanted to vote for me, the supposed Ruby explained. The Court found this reasoning above-board.
And similar contention with the rest of the counter-arguments presented by the camp of the Vice Mayor. Judge Galvez in coming up with his Decision was all clear with his sentiments.
"Protestant (Centena) has not presented clear and convincing evidence to support vote buying as what he tried to imply when those names appeared in the two (2) precincts," excerpts of the Court Decision went. "Granting such existence, such cause shall only be considered stray vote but it shall not invalidate the whole ballot."
And more explanation too with Judge Galvez reiterating, "To say that these votes which has "Ruby" or its variants should not be counted because the particular voter voted for the Protestee (Divinagracia) is not in accord with justice. There were no proof to that effect and it is not illogical to propose that Ruby might be also a political leader of the other candidates."
Judge Galvez then went on to dismiss Centena's protest stating "The Court holds that the Protestant failed to overcome the disputable presumptions provided….."
In conclusion, the Decision added a reminder, "This case highlights the important role of watchers during the actual voting. The power given to the watchers under the Omnibus Election Code is not only a right but also a duty."