TALISAY City Mayor Neil Lizares said that his “conscience is clear,” following allegations that vote-buying secured his victory in the May 9 elections.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division has recommended a recount of votes cast for mayor in Talisay City after junking his motion to dismiss the election protest of defeated mayoral bet Sheila Saratan, whose allegations was found “sufficient in form and content” by the poll body.
Lizares was proclaimed winner after garnering 28,440 votes against Saratan’s 21,119, or a margin of 7,321 votes.
Lizares, who is still out of the country, said in a statement Sunday that he “will face them fair and square.”
“It's their right to file a protest, let's just follow the due process of the law,” he added.
Lizares remained unfazed saying, “I'm confident that the outcome will be the same, and to our favor.”
He also stressed that he “will not be distracted.”
“Let's focus on the work at hand that I have already began, which is positive change, transparency and service to all Talisaynons,” he added.
Presiding Commissioner Christian Robert Lim and Commissioner Luie Tito Guia signed the 25-page decision on September 20 while Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, who was also assigned to the case, inhibited being a Negrense.
The Comelec First found Saratan’s allegation contesting all the 97 clustered precincts due to irregularities in the operation of and/or due to the malfunctioning of vote counting machine “to be specific enough in accordance with the rule.”
The decision added that the allegation of Saratan that Lizares resorted to wholesale vote-buying through his leaders and cohorts in an attempt to win the elections was “specific enough to mean that the supposed irregularities occurred in all the clustered precincts being protested.”