Iloilo poll case ruling finds Treñas lead grew

ILOILO CITY—The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) has dismissed the electoral protest filed by former Iloilo Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr. against incumbent Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas over alleged irregularities in results of the May 10, 2010 elections here.

The HRET, chaired by Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., said the results of a recount in 25 percent of contested ballots showed an increase in the winning margin of Treñas over Gonzalez from 24,985 to 28,826.

“Taking into consideration the evidence presented by the protestant, the tribunal finds no reasonable recovery in favor of protestant as shown and established from the initial revision of ballots in the pilot protested clustered precincts,” the decision read.

Treñas defeated Gonzalez with a vote of 101,304 against 76,478.

Iloilo Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog also defeated former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, the father and namesake of the former congressman, in the mayoral race with 80,654 votes against the elder Gonzalez’s 65,509 votes.

The Gonzalezes questioned the election results at the Commission on Elections and the HRET alleging that data uploaded through the compact flash (CF)  disks used in the automated elections were “tainted.”

They cited the significant number of precincts which failed to electronically transmit election results because of lack of modems, transmission signals and other technical glitches.

The electronic transmission of election results from the precincts to the Board of Canvassers (BOC) was only successful in 20 percent of the precincts while election results in 80 percent of the precincts had to be physically delivered by bringing the CF cards to the BOC, they said.

Both Treñas and Mabilog had denied the alleged irregularities.

The mayoral and congressional races in the city were among the most tightly fought in the 2010 elections because the Gonzalezes, staunch allies of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, had ruled the city’s politics for more than a decade. The Gonzalezes were former allies of Treñas and Mabilog.