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BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division allowed the manual recount of votes in Talisay City, Negros Occidental sought by losing mayoral candidate Sheila Saratan.
Saratan, who lost to Mayor Neil Lizares in the May elections, contested the ballots cast in 97 clustered precincts. She got 21,119 votes, while Lizares garnered 28,440.
The wife of former mayor Eric Saratan filed the protest against Lizares, citing “electoral fraud” and “questionable results.”
Sheila Saratan shall spend for the recount (P291,000) and other incidental expenses (P3,000 per contested clustered precinct), stated the order signed by Presiding Commissioner Robert Lim and Commissioner Luie Tito Guia.
Comelec also issued a temporary protection order for the ballot boxes from the contested clustered precincts.
The Presidential Electoral Tribunal shall decide on the schedule, said Sheila Saratan. “The ballots may be transported to Manila by the end of November or early December.”
Eric Saratan said the recount will “ultimately clear doubts on how the polls were conducted.”
“It would even benefit the incumbent Mayor Neil Lizares, whose mandate to lead still hangs in the balance even as his capability to govern has yet to be proven,” he said./PN
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