Poll protest vs Northern Samar lawmaker dismissed

TACLOBAN CITY –– The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) has dismissed the electoral protest filed against Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza.

Daza, representing the province’s first congressional district, defeated Harlin Abayon, himself a former congressman, during the May 13, 2019 elections by more than 59,000 votes.

In his petition filed at the HRET on July 15, 2019, Abayon alleged that Daza committed “massive vote-buying,” particularly in the five towns of the district’s 14 municipalities.

But the HRET, in its decision dated Dec. 12, 2019, but was only released on Jan. 12 this year, ruled in favor of Daza, son of long-time congressman Raul Daza, a stalwart of the Liberal Party.

The tribunal said that based on the certificate of canvass, Daza obtained 68,578 votes from the contested five towns, namely, Lope de Vega, San Isidro, Allen, Mondragon, and the provincial capital of Catarman, as against the votes of 31,703 of Abayon, who ran under the Nacionalista Party, or a difference of 36,875 votes.

“Assuming arguendo that the tribunal annul the election results in the five municipalities, after deducting the protester (Daza)’s margin of 36,875 votes from his overall margin of 59,685 votes, the protestee will still emerge as winner by a margin of 22,810 votes,” said the tribunal in its seven-page resolution penned by Supreme Court Justice Andres Reyes, Jr.

Moreover, the tribunal held that although Abayon claimed that there was vote-buying in five municipalities, he only identified witnesses in two of the towns.

Daza, who was a former governor of Northern Samar, thanked the HRET, chaired by Justice Mario Victor Leonen “for the early and expeditious decision of the case.”/lzb