05/06/2022
Mayoralty bet Dator files election protest vs Villaverde in May 9 polls
LUCBAN, QUEZON – The mayoralty candidate and wife of the incumbent mayor of Lucban, Quezon seeks to annul and set aside the proclamation of Agustin Villaverde, the presumptive winner of the mayoralty race in the recent May 9 elections.
In an election protest she filed with the Lucena city Regional Trial Court, Cel Gina Dator has claimed that election fraud, irregularities and anomalies have tainted the result of the election and demanded a manual recount of all the ballots in all the 57 clustered precincts for the 32 bgys of Lucban.
According to the municipal certificate of canvass, Dator of Nationalist People’s Coalition has obtained 10,528 votes while Villaverde of People’s Reform Party got 13,669.
'Acel' Dator, a registered nurse who served as focal person of the Municipal Gender and Development Program of the 3rd termer and outgoing Mayor Celso Olivier Dator, has claimed that Villaverde was declared as the presumptive winning candidate for mayor based on an unsigned certificate of canvass and proclamation, and whose 776 votes remained unaccounted in all the 57 clustered precincts which were not counted or reflected in the certificate of canvass issued by the Municipal Board of Canvassers.
In all the 57 clustered precincts, 24 have experienced problems either with the Vote Counting Machines (VCM) or suffered SD card glitches most of which happened in polling places in barangays known as bailiwicks of Dator such as Bgy. 4, Aliliw, Ayuti, Nalunao, Palola, Tinamnan and in Paaralang Elem. Ng Lucban, Maka Bgy. School, Fil-Chinese School and Southern Luzon State University.
Dator said that her poll watchers were not given a copy of the election returns in several clustered precincts prior to its transmission by the election boards such as poll watcher Angela Abuso in Bgy. 2 poblacion while watchers in established precincts 68A and 68B were driven out of their respective precincts of assignment by members of the election board without any valid or justifiable reason while Villaverde watchers were allowed to stay on inside the said clustered precincts.
She also alleged that there were several instances in various polling precincts that voters whose ballots were fed into the VCM but the machine did not print or issue a Voter Verifiable Paper-Audit Trail or VVPAT.
The anomalous incidents, according to Dator, involving the VCM and the VVPAT along with several others, clearly cast doubts to the reliability and credibility of the mayoralty election in Lucban as she asked the RTC for revision and recount of the ballots so that the true will of the voters in Lucban could prevail and the legitimate winner in the mayoralty race should assume as the local chief executive.
On May 23, RTC Br. 57 Presiding Judge Janice Andrade-Udarbe has issued an order directing the election officer and municipal treasurer of Lucban and other responsible personnel and custodians to take the necessary precautionary measures for the safekeeping and custody of ballots, the ballot boxes and their contents, the SD Cards, and other election documents and paraphernalia used in the May 2022 elections in all the 57 protested clustered precincts to insure that the said election paraphernalia and documents will not be tampered, destroyed and lost.
The RTC judge also ordered that the election documents and paraphernalia be brought to the RTC court for the revision and recount of ballots and the technical examination of the signatures and thumbmarks in the voters registration records in all the protested clustered precincts.
Meanwhile, another mayoralty candidate, Merton ‘Tinton’ Deveza has earlier filed a disqualification case against Villaverde for election overspending at the Commission on Election.
Filed on May 4, or 5 days before the elections on May 9, Deveza claimed in his complaint with the Comelec that in an intent to influence, induce or corrupt the voters of Lucban, Villaverde has distributed cash to rice farmers, installed water reservoir tower in Bgy. Nagsinamo, shouldered the expenses for the installation of light posts in Sitio Umban, gave steel gates to Nakal Elem. School of Bgy. Nalunao, sponsored a fun run activity where he distributed jackets and snacks for the participants; sponsored a basketball tournament where Villaverde spent for the uniforms of the players, rent of the gymnasium, snacks, cash gifts and awards; sponsored a general assembly of the federation of tricycle owners and drivers where he shouldered the expenses of the venue, sound system and food and also distributed cash gifts to the participants; and sponsored a dance party for people where he spent for the food and sound system of the event.
Photos of the said various events were attached and marked as annexes in the complaint as proof of the election violations perpetrated by Villaverde during the election campaign.
Deveza said that a candidate for the position of mayor is only authorized to incur an election expense amounting to P107,000 however Villaverde exceeded his expenditures in relation to his campaign for the May 9, 2022 elections.
Deveza claimed that for election collaterals and others, Villaverde already spent about P241,240 based on their party’s monitoring from March 26 to April 25, 2022.
He said that it is evident that Villaverde committed an election offense as provided for under Section 35 of Comelec Resolution No. 9615 and violated Sec. 68 of the Omnibus Election Code which provides the grounds for disqualifications of any candidate.
