Comelec junks Pacificador's election protest vs. Perez
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has junked a petition of former Assemblyman Arturo Pacificador and former governor and congressman Jovito Plameras Jr. to annul the proclamation of Antique Governor Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez in the May 14, 2007 elections.
In a four-page ruling promulgated on December 11 but received by the parties this week, the Comelec's First Division upheld the proclamation of Perez on June 29, 2007.
It dismissed the petition for lack of merit of Pacificador and Plameras, who both ran against Perez. The petitioners had questioned the legality of the creation of a Special Provincial Board of Canvassers (SPBOC) chaired by lawyer Daisy Real.
The Comelec resolution was signed by Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Leonardo Leonida and Armando Velasco.
The SPBOC chaired by Real proclaimed Perez as winner with a margin of more than 13,000 votes against Pacificador based on results from the province’s 1,855 precincts. The board also proclaimed other winning candidates in the province.
The SPBOC had replaced the SPBOC chaired by former Western Visayas Comelec director Rene Magbutay which failed to proclaim any winner.
The petitioners had protested the creation of a second SPBOC claiming it was highly irregular and without basis. They argued that Perez's proclamation should be annulled because of the creation and all actions and decisions taken by the second SPBOC violated laws and Comelec rules.
But in its ruling, the Comelec First Division said the poll body had the authority to control and supervise the board of canvassers including the changing of the composition of the PBOC. It said the proclamation of Perez was valid because the SPBOC was authorized to proclaim winning candidates.
The resolution is the latest among several decisions against Pacificador and Plameras.
In January last year, the Comelec also dismissed an appeal of Pacificador to reverse its earlier ruling dismissing his petition to stop the proclamation of Perez.
Pacificador and Plameras had also sought the disqualification of Perez and seven of her partymates in the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) for allegedly violating the ban on public spending during the election period.
The disqualification case was, however, dismissed for lack of merit by the Comelec’s First Division on January 25, 2007.