BOAC, Marinduque—A reconstituted provincial board of canvassers (PBOC) has proclaimed anew Carmencita Reyes and her daughter Regina winners in the gubernatorial and congressional races, respectively, in Marinduque.
The proclamation on Friday came after the board, headed by Commission on Elections Regional Director Emmanuel E. Ignacio, completed the canvass of election returns from all six towns of the province.
Two days before, the Reyeses, along with vice gubernatorial candidate Romulo Bacorro, were proclaimed winners with the results of ERs from only three towns. All belong to the Liberal Party.
Danny Gapasin, legal counsel of reelectionist Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, called Regina’s proclamation illegal and said it should be nullified since the Comelec en banc affirmed on May 14 its first division decision in March that invalidated her certificate of candidacy for being an American.
In the final official tally, Regina garnered 52,209, or a margin of 3,813 over Velasco’s 48,396 votes.
The Comelec head in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) arrived here on Friday to replace provincial election officer Edwin Villa as chair of the PBOC in the wake of the controversial proclamation.
Carmencita, the incumbent governor, won with 53,869 votes over Antonio Uy (Nationalist People’s Coalition), who got 25,836, and former Gov. Jose Antonio “Bong” Carrion (National Unity Party), 18,706.
Bacorro was proclaimed the winning vice governor with 47,260 votes.
The PBOC completed the canvass of votes in the provincial board, senatorial and party-list races. The results for the last two contests were immediately transmitted to the national board of canvassers.