San Juan Comelec sets sked for verification of signatures

Starting next week, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in San Juan City will verify the authenticity of the 30,000 signatures on a petition for a recall election filed by supporters of former Vice Mayor Francis Zamora.

An April 20 memorandum signed by San Juan Comelec officer Gregorio Bonifacio set the schedule for the verification of signatures and thumbmarks from April 25 to May 1. The proceedings will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at San Juan Knights gym in San Juan Elementary School, Barangay Balong Bato.

Only 15,000 signatures are needed to pave the way for the conduct of a recall election which will once again pit Zamora against incumbent Mayor Guia Gomez.

She defeated Zamora, her former ally-turned-political-rival, in May 2016 by around 1,000 votes.

The petition for a recall election was filed by Sophia Patrick Gil, Barangay Addition Hills; Barangay Progreso official Raul Sevilla and private citizens Raymond Alzona and Jun Paul Aquino on Sept. 22 last year.

Under the law, the recall election should be held on May 13 or a year before the 2019 local polls.