FOR a tightly contested village chief seat in Barangay Mabini, Cebu City, an aspirant who lost by two votes has demanded a recount in four of six precincts of the barangay, citing the writing of his name on the wrong place in the ballot by voters and the inconsistent recognition of such votes as among the reasons for his loss.
Manny Pepito, a former barangay captain, challenged the results after narrowly losing to his opponent, saying there were irregularities in the tallying in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on Oct. 30, 2023.
Pepito, who got 879 votes, said at least four of his votes were invalidated. He believes that including these votes would have secured his victory and given him a two-vote lead.
“If we consider the uncounted votes, those four would be added, and his lead is only two votes. It’s possible that if we recount, we might lead by two votes over my opponent,” he said in Cebuano.
His closest competitor was the incumbent Barangay Captain Richard Adolfo, who received 881 votes, enough to be reelected.
Tallying
Pepito’s protest filed before the Muncipal Trial Court in Cebu City last Tuesday, Nov. 7, centered on alleged irregularities during the vote tallying, which prompted his demand for a recount.
On Wednesday evening, Nov. 8, Pepito told VoxPop Cebu that at least three votes in a single precinct went unaccounted for because his name was mistakenly written in the space designated for barangay councilors.
Additionally, Pepito claimed that one vote from another precinct was excluded because a voter wrote his opponent’s middle name at the end of his family name. His middle name is Talisic, while Adolfo’s is Molo.
“In one precinct, there was a ballot with “Manny Pepito Molo,” while my complete name was only “Manny Pepito.” Thus, the one with “Molo” was not counted,” he said.
Pepito also said that in the third and fourth precincts, two votes were counted in his favor, even though his name was written under the first councilor’s name. Likewise, nine votes for his opponent, with a similar issue of name placement, were accepted. However, he questioned why his three votes in the first precinct, which had the same issue, were not accepted.
He added that the basis for these allegations was the observations of his poll watchers.
Adolfo, in an interview on Thursday, said he respects Pepito’s motion to file a protest, but for now, he would rather focus on implementing the projects he started in his last term.
“He was in shock because he expected to win, but he lost. However, on my end, there’s nothing to worry about because I did nothing wrong,” Adolfo said.
Marchel Sarno, election officer of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Cebu City North District, said Thursday that Pepito may file an election protest before the court.
He said filing an election protest is distinct from filing a petition for the correction of manifest errors, which should only be submitted to the Comelec office and will be handled by its central office in Manila.
In an election protest, every vote from each ballot box would be recounted, whereas in a petition, only the statement of votes would be recomputed.
Omar Sharif Mamalinta, spokesperson for Comelec Cebu, said the appreciation of votes by the electoral board is final and executory, but candidates can question the results by filing a protest.
Mamalinta also pointed out that one of Pepito’s grounds for protest is the incorrect placement of his name on the ballot, involving the interplay of three rules: the neighborhood rule, misplaced vote and intent rule.
He emphasized that election protests should be filed within 10 days after the proclamation of the winning candidates.
Comelec 7 administration officer Ivan Jason delos Santos reported that in Central Visayas, seven petitions have been submitted so far. Three of the petitions are from Cebu, specifically Dalaguete town, Pilar town and Naga City. There are also cases in Sta. Catalina and Mabinay towns in Negros Oriental, Lazi town in Siquijor, and Tagbilaran City in Bohol.