Crispin “Ping” Remulla (PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE)
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday proclaimed Cavite Board Member Crispin “Ping” Remulla as the new representative of the province’s seventh district after the poll body conducted a special election for the vacant seat.
The Cavite police, in a post on its Facebook page Sunday morning, reported that the board of canvassers headed by lawyer Mitzele Veron Morales-Castro, Cavite provincial election supervisor, and Provincial Prosecutor Vivian Rojo proclaimed Remulla as the newly-elected congressional representative of the 7th district.
The proclamation was witnessed by Comelec chairman George Garcia and four other poll commissioners.
Ping is the son of Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, who won the said post in 2022 but gave up the position after being appointed as Justice secretary by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
According to the Comelec in its official count, Remulla garnered a total of 98,474 votes, which translated to 66.67 percent of the total number of votes.
“On the basis of the foregoing, we hereby proclaim the above-named winning candidate as the duly elected member, House of Representatives, Cavite – Seventh Legdist (Legislative District),” the Comelec said in a statement.
His rivals, on the other hand, garnered the following votes:
- Jun Sagun – 46,530 votes
- Lito Aguinaldo – 1,610 votes
- Mike Santos – 1,068 votes
Voter turnout
Meanwhile, the Comelec said that it saw a 42.11 percent voter turnout, after 149,581 of the district’s 355,184 registered voters participated in the special elections.
This is lower than the 60 percent turnout the Comelec predicted before the said polls.
Garcia described the conduct of the special election as “generally peaceful.”
He said all voting machines in all precincts have functioned well. Though, he disclosed that there were some machines that have to be tilted for the insertion of the ballots.
“It was minor technical glitches,” he said.
Poll watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) shared Comelec’s report on the peaceful conduct of the election.
“In general, Namfrel observers described the conduct of the closing and counting processes as smooth and peaceful, and members of the electoral boards (EBS) appeared well-trained and knowledgeable of the automated process,” the watchdog said in a statement.
The poll watchdog said the “vote counting machines functioned normally.”
“However, VCMS stopped operating during the printing of audit logs in at least two polling places observed, but Namfrel believes these did not compromise the results in said polling places,” it said.