Silay Mayor Carlo Gamban yesterday said he respects and welcomes the ruling of Comelec First Division finding that the election protest of mayoralty candidate Jose "Oti" Montelibano, had been "filed on time".

Gamban, however, said the "recounting" of the ballots is another thing, and there are processes to be followed.

Although he has not yet received a copy of the Comelec decision, Gamban said it is the right of any candidate to file an election protest.

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 of Montelibano after finding that it had been filed on time.

Montelibano 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 again.

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

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

Comelec records show that Gamban had 18,019 votes against 17,736 that of Montelibano.*GPB

back to top