Wrong results sent
from eight precincts
COMELEC ORDERS NEW CANVASSING
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Board of Election Canvassers in three cities and four towns in Negros Occidental began convening yesterday to include the actual election returns of eight clustered precincts after their Precinct Count Optical Scan machines transmitted test results instead of the  election day vote counts.

Canvassed were the election returns from two clustered precincts in Escalante City and one each from Sagay City, Cadiz City, Manapla, Hinigaran, Ilog and Cauayan, Provincial Elections Supervisor Jessie Suarez said yesterday.

The Provincial Board of Canvassers will convene on Monday to then tally the results from the eight precincts for the provincial and national candidates, Suarez added.

A twister destroyed six houses in Barangays Tangub and Pahanocoy, Bacolod City and damaged 17 others in the same areas at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday after heavy rains started to pour and lasted for more than an hour.

Cathy de Leon, Tangub Community Development Worker, yesterday said she will try to validate today reports that another house in Purok Aning, Pahanocoy was hit by the twister, aside from the two houses in Tangub and four houses in Pahanocoy it destroyed, and 17 others it damaged.

City Executive Assistant Joemarie Vargas said the grocery store of Noli Manaloto along the roadside, and the house of the Tanaleon family in Purok Kapawa, Tangub, were damaged, while the houses that were destroyed in Pahanocoy were made of light materials.

Gary Alejano, a former Army captain who had participated in the Oakwood mutiny, has filed an election protest before the Commission on Elections in Manila, seeking a recount of votes in 34 out of 51 clustered precincts of Sipalay City.

Alejano who garnered 8,780 votes in the race for mayor of Sipalay City lost to Oscar Montilla Jr. who garnered 16,182 votes in the May 10 polls.

But Alejano, in his protest filed May 20, said he is seeking a recount because acts of omission constituting election fraud, irregularities, and anomalies were committed during the elections.