The Commission on Elections First Division has given due to course to the election protest filed by Silay City mayoral candidate Jose "Oti" Montelibano, paving the way for the recount of the ballots in all 311 precincts in the city.

A three-page order dated Feb. 22, 2006, signed by Presiding Commissioner Resurreccion Borra and Commissioner Romeo Brawner, states that the Commission (First Division) resolved to give due course to the protest after finding that it had been filed on time.

Montelibano, who ran against Mayor Carlo Gamban during the May 2004 elections, told the DAILY STAR yesterday that he welcomes the much-awaited COMELEC decision.

He said he is hopeful that the recount will start after he posts the required deposit, and the local COMELEC office sends the ballot boxes to the central office in Manila where the election results will be tallied anew.

"So that the truth will come out. This is a great thing for Silay. Win or lose, it will be a different Silay after this," Montelibano said.

The latest COMELEC order ruled on the Petition Ad Cautela, contesting the election and proclamation of Gamban on grounds of massive vote padding, misappreciation and misreading of votes, and substitution of voters, among others.

Montelibano had sought the recount, revision and appreciation of ballots, and for the Comelec to annul and set aside the proclamation of Gamban and declare him as the duly elected mayor of Silay.

Gamban had responded that the protest case must be dismissed for having been filed outside the 10-day reglamentary period provided by the law as it was filed 12 days after his proclamation on June 23, 2004.

However, after a thorough examination of the pleadings, the First Division said it found that the filing of protest case (SPC O4-280) was done on June 28, 2004, effectively suspended the running of the period within which to file an election protest as provided in Section 248 of the Omnibus Election Code.

At the time Gamban was proclaimed, the tally of returns showed that he had 18,019 votes and Montelibano, 17,736, and the other candidate, Edwin Velez, had 11,902 votes.*NLG

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