Defeated Taguig City mayoral candidate Rica Tiñga has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to toss out the results of the May 13 elections that gave a fresh mandate to Laarni “Lani” Cayetano, whose first term was also hounded by an election protest filed in 2010 by Rica’s father.
Tiñga and 10 partymates under the Kilusang Diwa ng Taguig (KDT) filed a 21-page petition on Monday asking the poll body to annul Cayetano’s proclamation as reelected mayor, declare a failure of elections for the mayoralty, and hold special elections for that position.
On May 15, the city board of canvassers proclaimed Cayetano the winner with 122,824 votes over Tiñga who got 74,009.
In her petition, Tiñga alleged that “the massive fraud and widespread irregularities during Election Day, (which) marred the consequent counting of votes and the canvassing of the election returns, resulted in a failure to elect.”
She claimed that Cayetano’s camp handed out “preshaded” ballots to ensure her and her candidates’ victory.
“Eyewitness accounts show that the voters were not able to cast their votes for mayor as the ballots given to them were already preshaded. Thus, there was no election held for mayor as the choice was taken away from the electorate,” the petitioner said.
Tiñga presented around 20 affidavits purportedly executed by voters, poll watchers and support staff members to support the allegations of fraud.
On this basis, she said, “no actual election was conducted” in Barangays (villages) Central Signal, Bagumbayan, Ibayo-Tipas, South Signal, Fort Bonifacio, Napindan and Pinagsama—villages accounting for 88,141 voters.
She accused Cayetano, City Treasurer Marianito Miranda and their cohorts of “proportionately and systematically” distributing the preshaded ballots among the clustered precincts in collaboration with the board of election inspectors.
“This explains the outcome of the elections where Cayetano’s party almost had a clean sweep, winning 17 of the 20 hotly contested posts by incredibly high margins despite the low turnout of voters,” the KDT said in a statement.
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Dante Tiñga, Rica’s father, also filed a protest and demanded a recount when he lost to Cayetano—wife of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano—by just 2,420 votes in the 2010 mayoral race.
The protest was dismissed by the Comelec in October 2012. In January this year, the elder Tiñga questioned the poll body’s decision in the Supreme Court.
In response to the latest protest, the Cayetano camp’s spokesperson Lyle Niño Pasco said: “Rica Tiñga is indeed her father’s daughter. Instead of taking the high road and honorably concede defeat, she opted to do what her father did when he also lost to Mayor Lani: sow unrest in Taguig.”