Vico Sotto asks Comelec to junk electoral protest against him

MANILA, Philippines — Pasig Mayor-elect Vico Sotto on Thursday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to dismiss the electoral protest filed against him by defeated Pasig mayoral candidate Bobby Eusebio.

In a 29-page motion, Sotto said Eusebio’s electoral protest failed to provide details of the alleged fraud.

“It [the protest] was “insufficient in form and content since it does not make a detailed specification of the acts or omissions complained of as required under Comelec Resolution No. 8804 in filing an election protest,” Sotto said through his counsel, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal.

“The affidavits of Eusebio’s witnesses on allegations of malfunctions of vote counting machines and defective SD cards were obviously generated from a singular template only reworded and rephrased with font deliberately made varied, which are clearly insufficient to prove the existence of election fraud and irregularity in Pasig City,” Sotto said.

Sotto also cited several cases decided by the Supreme Court and the Comelec where election protests were junked after protests were found to be “too broad and general.”

As for the argument of Eusebio regarding the 29 clustered precincts missing in the statement of votes, Sotto said that it was just a “printing error.”

Sotto also noted that his rival could always request for a complete copy of the statement of votes from the Election Officer in Pasig.

Nevertheless, Sotto said the alleged missing votes from the 29 clustered precincts would not change the outcome of the elections.

“Assuming for the sake of argument that all the votes from the 29 clustered precincts were indeed missing, and 100% of the votes therein were for Eusebio, this would only amount to 20,800 votes (placed at the national average of 270 voters per precinct) and would still not be enough to subdue my overwhelming 86,500 vote-lead,” Sotto said.

Sotto recently received a copy of the electoral protest filed against him. Upon receiving the copy, Sotto wished Eusebio to have “inner peace and to accept the truth.”

READ: Facing protest, Vico Sotto wishes Eusebio’ inner peace’

Sotto has an 86,500 vote-lead over Eusebio in the polls, which was considered as unprecedented in the political history of Pasig City. (Editor: Eden Estopace)

READ: Millennial Vico Sotto wins longshot bid for Pasig mayor