Cayetano loses appeal; ballots’ retrieval reset

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has reset the retrieval of ballot boxes from the Taguig City Hall, further delaying the recounting of votes cast in last year’s elections for mayor.

Earlier, the poll body’s First Division denied for lack of merit a second motion for reconsideration filed by the camp of Mayor Ma. Laarni Cayetano, who was proclaimed the winner over her closest rival, retired Associate Justice Dante Tinga, who filed an electoral protest against her.

“[T]he second motion for reconsideration … should be denied, it being a rehash or mere reiteration of the ground and arguments already passed upon and resolved,” it said in a three-page resolution.

However, although the members of the First Division led by Commissioner Rene Sarmiento turned down Cayetano’s petition to postpone the collection, delivery, recount and return of the ballot boxes, they reset the schedule for the proceedings.

From October 27 and 28, November 2 and 4, the division scheduled the retrieval of the election paraphernalia to November 22 to 25.

“The order [of retrieval] is hereby reiterated with an adjustment [in] the dates of the retrieval of the ballot boxes and the recount of ballots for the pilot precincts,” the division resolution said.

As stated in the September 30 order, the recounting of the contents of the 43 ballot boxes will be done by batches in four days.

The proceedings will still be held at the Comelec’s Project Management Office located on the ground floor of Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, with security to be provided by the Philippine Marines.

Cayetano was proclaimed winner in the May 2010 mayoral polls after she beat Tinga by a margin of 2,420 votes. Tinga filed an election protest, claiming irregularities.

The Comelec Second Division, which originally had jurisdiction over the case, ordered the retrieval of the ballots in August last year but Cayetano’s camp had claimed that the division’s members were biased against her.