20 March 2007
LEGAZPI CITY—The Supreme Court, voting 15-0, declared null and void the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling that declared former city councilor Michael Imperial as the winner of the 2004 mayoral race in this city.
The Court, in its decision, stated that the Comelec’s Second Division adopted a “manifestly unreasonable procedure” in the review of the election protest filed by Imperial on May 24, 2004, pointing out its failure to consider the condition of the ballots before they were recounted.
The ruling upheld the victory of Mayor Noel Rosal.
While Imperial claimed that he was cheated during the election, Rosal said that he was a victim of post-election fraud, claiming that election returns were tampered after the votes were counted.
Acting on Imperial’s petition, the Comelec recounted the contested ballots, which started in January 2005 and ended on Feb. 2, 2005.
After the recount, Imperial came out with more votes in allegedly tampered election returns.
To prove his allegation, Rosal intended to present 110 public school teachers, who had served as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI), as witnesses.
The teachers claimed the signatures that appeared in the election returns were no longer theirs.
However, in an order on April 25, 2005, the Comelec Second Division ruled that the testimonies of the teachers were “unnecessary” and that the Comelec had the authority to determine by itself the authenticity of the ballots.
But the high court rebuffed the Comelec ruling saying “It should never be forgotten, though, that the superior status of the ballots as evidence of how the electorate voted presupposes that these were the very same ballots actually cast and counted in the elections”
It noted that Imperial himself earlier manifested that the question ballot boxes bore “overt signs of tampering.” Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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