Payumos protest ‘impossible results’

FORMER Rep. Felicito Payumo
ROBERT GONZAGA/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

DINALUPIHAN, Bataan—The Payumo family and its allies on Monday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to do a manual recount of votes cast in the May 13 elections in six Bataan towns due to what they called “statistically improbable results” that favored the members of the Garcia clan.

The Garcia clan and its ally, reelectionist Rep. Herminia Roman, dominated the polls, winning in all positions by a wide margin against the Payumo candidates.

Defeated congressional candidate Felicito Payumo, former Bases Conversion and Development Authority chair and a former representative of the district, filed the electoral complaint on the Dinalupihan results on Monday afternoon.

Last week, he filed similar complaints concerning the results of the towns of Orani, Samal, Bagac, Limay and Orion.

Payumo’s complaint cited signs of allegedly preprogrammed results, as well as anecdotal accounts of malfunctioning precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

“The election results showed a consistent votes’ share pattern of 55 percent and 45 percent in three [towns] and 60 percent and 40 percent in three other towns in favor of my opponent (Roman),” said Payumo.

“We find this statistically improbable, if not impossible… This was based on the voters’ turnout, a surprisingly 84 percent when previous elections registered only 60 to 63 percent,” he told the Inquirer.

As a result, not a single Payumo candidate or ally won, even in Dinalupihan town, where the Payumos have held sway for decades.

In the Comelec website last week, results of the first congressional district race showed Payumo with 60,084 votes, or a 40.7-percent share, while Roman had 87,535 votes, or a 59.3-percent share.

In the second district congressional race, the Garcia patriarch, outgoing Gov. Enrique Garcia Jr., got 120,825 votes (67.43 percent) against the 53,070 votes (29.62 percent) of his closest opponent, former Gov. Leonardo Roman.

In the gubernatorial race, outgoing Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia got 239,978 votes (74.88 percent) against closest opponent Joel Payumo’s 77,424 (24.16 percent). Albert is Garcia’s son while Joel, outgoing Dinalupihan mayor, is Payumo’s nephew.

The Garcias, through Balanga City Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia III, said his family welcomed the filing of any protest, “which can only validate the resounding expression of the people’s will.”

In a telephone interview last week, the young Garcia said: “We won because of performance and accomplishments. I think people based their selection on these [factors].”

“The Payumos can’t seem to accept defeat when this is not the first time that they’ve lost in the elections. Tong Payumo himself was roundly thrashed in his own hometown in the 2007 elections,” he also said in a statement.

“What probably stunned them this time was the way the electorate handed down their rejection in a most decisive way. It was a simple case of Bataeños opting for solid, tangible performance over hollow promises,” Garcia said.

Payumo said the Liberal Party slate of his nephew, Board Member Jojo Payumo, who ran for Dinalupihan mayor, also lost.

“Such complete shutout, whether of the incumbent administration ticket or opposition, has never happened before,” he said.

Vice Mayor Leonardo Cruz, who ran for councilor, said he could not believe the results. “Before, I won by a landslide and I am a three term vice mayor. Now, I could not even get in the eight-member council,” he said.

Vice mayoral candidate Emmanuel Bajada, a former councilor and businessman who employs at least 600 people in his village, said he lost in the villages of Luacan and Naparing, where he lives.

“My own employees could not believe it… In my village, there were fewer people who voted for me than the people I employed, who all depended on me,” said Bajada.

Payumo said his son, Tonito, the lone candidate from Dinalupihan for board member, also lost in the town.

“A lone candidate from Dinalupihan would usually garner the highest number of votes in this most populous town in the district,” he said.

“Finally, I could not imagine I would lose in my hometown, Dinalupihan, by more than 10,000 votes, contributing a full third of my vote deficit to my opponent. This was the fatal mistake that gave away the operation—using a bludgeon that would cut across the district according to a predetermined vote share ratio and without regard to the political terrain,” he said.

Payumo said he was supported by Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) but his votes in Dinalupihan were about the same as those of his nephew, gubernatorial candidate Joel, who was not endorsed by INC.

“This has never happened before in Bataan. There has never been an election where one family completely dominated the polls, where they won all the provincial board members, all the mayors of the province, down to the councilors in those towns,” said Joel.  With reports from Greg Refraccion and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon