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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017
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BACOLOD City – A preliminary conference on the election protest that Jude Thaddeus Sayson filed against Rep. Greg Gasataya will be held on March 7.
The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) is looking into the case almost eight months after it was filed in July last year.
Sayson, who lost to Gasataya in the congressional race, sought a manual recount and audit of ballots cast in the May 9, 2016 election.
He said the petition aims to verify the results, which indicated that more than 27,000 voters did not cast votes for congressman.
It was “highly improbable” for voters to “purposely and intentionally” skip the slot for congressman in their ballots, said Sayson.
“Why would 27,000 people ignore the congressional contest by not voting for their candidate when more than 1,491 voted for Atty. Rolando Villamor, who had withdrawn his candidacy,” the former vice mayor asked.
He said this “inconsistency” urged him to “test the veracity of the results and the dependability of the vote counting machines (VCM).”
Sayson, who trailed behind Gasataya by only about 1,027 votes, clarified that the protest is not a personal attack on the winner. He claimed his primary objective is to make sure the VCM results were accurate.
“If after the recount Gasataya will still win, I will accept it,” he said.
HRET hearing commissioner Maria Cleza Zamora signed the Notice of Preliminary Conference dated Feb. 13.
If the recount pushes through, the first 25 percent of the subject 398 ballot boxes will be opened. If the HRET foresees there will be big changes on the results, it will order the opening of the rest of the ballot boxes, Sayson said.
Gasataya got 85,467 votes, while Sayson got 84,431.
Other congressional candidates were former councilor Carlos Jose Lopez (18,211 votes), former councilor Archie Baribar (17,460) and call center agent Joel Enriquez (628)./PN
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