Reyeses proclaimed anew in Marinduque

BOAC, CATANDUANES – Mother and daughter Carmencita and Regina Reyes were proclaimed anew as winners in the gubernatorial and congressional races in Marinduque on Friday, this time by a reconstituted provincial board of canvassers (PBOC) headed by the regional election supervisor of Mimaropa.

The proclamation of the Reyeses as winners came after the provincial board of canvassers, headed by Commission on Elections regional director Emmanuel E. Ignacio, completed the canvass of election returns (ER) from all the six towns of Marinduque.

The proclamation Wednesday of Carmencita as the reelected governor, Regina as first district congressional race winner and Romulo A. Bacorro as vice governor – all candidates of the Liberal Party — was controversial as it was done with only the results of ERs from three towns.

Lawyer Danny Gapasin, the legal counsel of reelectionist Marinduque lone district Representative Lord Allan Jay Velasco, called Regina Reyes’ proclamation illegal and should be nullified since the Comelec en banc affirmed on May 14 the poll body’s First Division decision in March that invalidated her certificate of candidacy(CoC) for being an American.

Tolentino however said that Reyes has not officially received the Comelec decision.

At the same time, under the law, Tolentino said Reyes has five days to file a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Comelec ruling to disqualify her from the race since this was not yet final and executory at that time of her proclamation.

Tolentino, the Comelec head in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), arrived here Friday to replace provincial election officer Edwin Villa as chairman of the PBOC in the wake of the controversial proclamation on Wednesday, May 16.

In the final official tally, Regina Reyes garnered a total vote of 52,209, or a 3,813 margin over Velasco’s 48,396 votes.

Carmencita Reyes, the incumbent governor, won in the three-way guberational race with 53,869 votes against opponents Antonio “Tonton” Uy (Nationalist People’s Coalition), who got 25,836 votes, and Jose Antonio “Bong” Carrion (National Unity Party), a former governor of the province, who landed last with 18,706 votes.

Bacorro was also proclaimed the winning vice governor with 47,260 votes.

The Reyeses and Bacorro were proclaimed at 4:42 p.m. on Friday after the PBOC completed the canvass of votes also in the provincial board contest, senatorial race and partylist. The results for the senatorial and party list races were imediately transmitted to the National Board of Canvassers on Friday.

The votes for provincial board members, senators and partylist were not yet canvassed when the Villa-headed PBOC “proclaimed” the three LP bets as winners on Wednesday.