Adoniram Pamplona, the chief counsel of Valdez, reportedly cited the failure by the local Comelec head, Daisy Real, to put down in writing why the poll body had rejected the petition protesting the returns of 302 precincts and contesting the returns which had no inner paper seal.
His deputy, lawyer Alfonso Manayon, told this writer that the Omnibus Election Code provides that the rejection of protests should be put down in writing stipulating the reasons or arguments.
"In short, our client was deprived of due process," said Manayon.
Proclaimed Vice Mayor-elect Renecito Novero said he himself would have contested the results if he were in the place of Mayor Valdez. He cited discrepancies in the election returns.
Comelec registrar Daisy Real countered that the lawyers of Valdez did not clarify before the Board of Canvassers if the election returns they were protesting are fake, tampered or prepared under duress.
She added that insofar as the BOC is concerned, all the ERs that were opened were really authentic.
Besides, she added, they cannot say the ERs were prepared under duress since each page bore the signatures of the watchers of the different political parties. That proved the ERs were not tampered, Real added.
At any rate, according to Manayon, the Comelec is expected to hand down its decision on their appeal for nullification of Leonardia’s proclamation within a week. The Comelec count showed Leonardia with 95,842 votes against Valdez’s 89,974.
While Valdez was locked in a legal dispute over the Leonardia proclamation, former Congressman John Orola Jr. conceded the elections to re-electionist Rep. Monico Puentevella who garnered 102,753 votes against his 71,125. He also said he will support whatever projects are needed for the public welfare and held the possibility that he may return to his passion — tourism.
Until he decided to run again for election, Orola was tourism adviser of Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon.
Noli de Castro also kept up with GMA, although his lead over Sen. Loren Legarda, herself from Antique of Region VI, ballooned to 314,309. De Castro got 651,109 against Legarda’s 336,800.
San Carlos City, which, for a time, remained enigmatic, turned in actually the highest majority among the cities of Negros Occidental, except for Bacolod, with 22,322 votes. San Carlos is 157 kilometers north of Bacolod.
FPJ won only in Sagay City, the home city of Gov. Marañon and his brother, Rep. Alfredo Marañon, with an 18,413 lead. The other is Cadiz City where he also led GMA by 2,055 votes, and in Manapla town where he received a 5,138 majority.
In almost all towns and cities of the province, GMA won by big margins over FPJ. But in Victorias, her majority was only 2,485. This is the home city of newly named Lakas provincial chairman, re-elected Mayor Severo Palanca.
The big leads enjoyed by Arroyo were also in UNA-NPC enclaves such as Bago City, 16,782; Kabankalan City, 15,403; and La Carlota City, 9,852.
Talisay City, where the two rivals for the mayorship engaged in a tight race won by re-electionist Mayor Anthony Lizares over rival Ramon Lacson, GMA romped off with a 16,236 lead over FPJ.
Other major gains were in Himamaylan City in the fifth district, 17,574; Calatrava in the north, 16,620; Escalante City, also in the north, 11,715; Silay City, 6,844; Sipalay City in the deep south, 8,599; Isabela, 11,000; and Hinigaran town, 10,802.
The results must have jarred Gov. Marañon who had predicted that GMA would get only a 100,000 majority. Even Coscolluela thought that the most optimistic projection was between 120,000 and 150,000 vote majority for GMA.
Negrenses seem to have identified themselves with the "underdog." That was when the Marañon brothers — Gov. Joseph and Rep. Alfredo — suddenly turned around and announced that they and 15 mayors were supporting FPJ.
The backlash was a sense of betrayal for a lady, especially after their defection was announced past the raising of her hand by the governor at the opening of the Panaad Festival.
Arnaiz got 301,000 votes while his rival Lorence Tayhon received only a few thousand votes. Macias, on the other hand, garnered 87,000 more votes that her rival Orlando Remollo who got only 28,000 votes.
Other developments: Simulan election registrar William Nacua proclaimed Danny Grapa as winner in the no. 8 council slot despite Beverly Tanoy’s official request to stop it due to alleged illegal campaign, especially on the eve of Election Day.
In Negros Occidental, Ricardo Presbitero was proclaimed the winning mayor and Glory Gomez the vice mayor in Valladolid town. It was the last town in the province where the proclamation was postponed because of election protests.
The municipal board of canvassers dismissed all the protests because no evidence supported the claims of tampering and alterations of election returns.
Mayoralty opponent, Rommel Yogore, filed the protests against Presbitero, while his running mate Jesus Muyco filed the protests against Gomez.
That left only Silay City with no proclaimed winners since the camps of both re-electionist Mayor Carlo Gamban and challenger Oti Montelibano have filed protests against each other.
Action on the appeal of Bacolod Mayor Valdez, however, is being awaited by city residents, although the big margin of Leonardia over Valdez has already convinced the majority of local voters that the former mayor has won his comeback bid.