Comelec nixes recall bid on VM Durano

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc upheld a previous ruling that dismissed the recall petition filed against Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III.

In its Sept. 16 decision received by the Office of the Deputy Executive Director for Operations (ODEDO), the commission en banc said the two memoranda issued by its evaluation committee “were in order.”

A copy of the Comelec en banc decision was furnished yesterday to Cebu Daily News by the Office of Provincial Board Member Carmen Remedios Meca.

Meca, the Philippine Councilors’ League provincial chairperson, is also a party to the recall petition.

The ODEDO earlier declared as insufficient the recall petition because “the petition was directed against not one but several elected officials.”

“The signature sheets deviated from the the prescribed format, which directly defeated the purpose for prescribing the format,” it added.

An amendment was made by petitioner Mayor Ramon “Boy” Durano Jr., brother of Vice Mayor Nito.

But ODEDO still sustained their memorandum that the petition remained “insufficient.”

“The filing of the amended petition may have cured the defect of filing one petition against several officials … however, no new signature sheets of supporting documents were submitted,” the office said.

Last May, the two Durano groups filed separate recall petitions against each other citing such grounds as lack of confidence, among others. Reporter Dale G. Israel