Comelec dismisses poll protest of ex-Bacolod City mayor

Former Bacolod City mayor Evelio Leonardia. Photo from Evelio “Bing” Leonardia Facebook page

BACOLOD CITY — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has dismissed the election protest filed by former Bacolod City mayor Evelio Leonardia against incumbent Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez for being “insufficient in form and content.”

In compliance with the Comelec Rules of Procedure, however, the case was referred to the Law Department for further investigation on the alleged violation of the Omnibus Election Code for vote-buying and illegal campaigning, among others.

“It bears stressing that the process of manual recount is not a tool intended to replace proof with suppositions or evidence with assumptions. Baseless and unsubstantiated protest remains impermissible in order to fully protect the true will  of the electorate as truthfully reflected in the results of the elections,” the eight-page order signed by Comelec Presiding Commissioner Marlon Casquejo and Commissioner Rey Bulay read.

“Though defeat in any elections is desolating for the losing candidate, an election protest must not be used as a vindication of a lost opportunity to serve the public, or at worst an unjustified assertion of wounded pride,” it added.

Leonardia, in his petition filed on May 20, sought the nullification of the proclamation of Benitez as mayor of Bacolod City. Benitez got 171,893 votes in the May 9 polls, while Leonardia had 107,447 votes.

Benitez, in his verified answer on June 13, sought the dismissal of the election protest, saying the allegations and evidence used by Leonardia were “false, misleading and imaginary since they were unsubstantiated and self-serving.”

He also asked that the protest be outrightly dismissed for being grossly deficient in form and content.

The poll body’s second division order said a thorough review of the case leaves it with no other recourse but to dismiss the election protest of Leonardia.

“The petition is replete with statements of alleged vote buying, illegal campaigning and the presence of police officers in polling precincts,” it said.

“The protestant (Leonardia) failed to specify and substantiate statements in the election protest that would distinctly show how and where occurrences of fraud, vote buying and other   irregularities were committed, it added.

The Inquirer is still waiting for a statement from the camp of Leonardia.

/MUF