Protests in D'bantayan, Lapu-lapu: Cebu poll losers still not giving up

It is all over but the shouting. And the shouting is not all in jubilation but in protest.

Yesteday, exactly 12 days after his rival for the position of mayor of Daanbantayan was proclaimed the winner, losing candidate Augusto Corro filed an election protest with the Regional Trial Court in Bogo, asking for a recount of the votes.

Closer to Cebu City, losing mayoral candidate Norma Patalinghug in the neighboring city of Lapu-lapu questioned the proclamation of Arturo Radaza just four days ago and asked the Comelec to declare that proclamation null and void.

Patalinghug is the incumbent vice mayor but is acting as the mayor as Radaza, the incumbent mayor, is serving out a suspension in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged anomalies surrounding the purchase of so-called overpriced lampposts for the 12th Asean Summit held in Cebu in January.

Corro wants the court to set aside the proclamation of Sun Shimura and for the Comelec to recount all votes cast in all 185 precincts under protest in Daanbantayan.

But Shimura's mother, Maria Luisa Loot, the incumbent but outgoing mayor who herself won as vice mayor, said Corro should prove his allegations of fraud first before asking the court to set aside the proclamation of her son.

Loot said their lawyers have promptly filed their reply to the petition of Corro before the court, asking it to dismiss the action of the losing mayoral candidate for lack of evidence.

Based on the canvassed election returns, Corro obtained only 13,706 votes to the 15,800 of Shimura. It was on the basis of these canvassed returns that Shimura was proclaimed winner on May 17.

Alleging massive irregularities, Corro said the results from the 185 precincts in the town did not reflect the correct number of votes cast as he was credited with less than he actually obtained and Shimura more than what he actually got, prompting him to lodge his complaint.

He claimed that during the counting of votes in the different contested precincts, leaders and followers of Shimura, along with alleged goons and men identified with Shimura's stepfather, police Senior Superintendent Vicente Loot, stayed within the premises to intimidate and harass his supporters.

Shimura denied the allegations, saying Corro even had more watchers at the precinct level than he had.

Tensions between the two camps were highlighted by an incident wherein an alleged goon of Shimura was caught carrying a gun on the eve of election day. As the incident was being investigated, closely watched by supporters of Corro, Loot arrived with a barangay captain who had called for her help concerning a barangay vehicle that had been vandalized.

On reaching the town hall and seeing all the people drawn by the incident involving the alleged good, Loot as mayor asked for the area to be cleared. But a woman allegedly attacked her with a chair, prompting Loot to sue her for direct assault.

Corro, meanwhile, asked the court to pay him damages by way of attorney's fees in the amount of P500,000 plus other litigation expenses in connection with his protest.

Patalinghug, on the other hand, is asking the Comelec to declare the proclamation of Radaza and his runningmate Mario Amores as null and void in an appeal before the poll body which earlier dismissed a pre-proclamation protest that she also filed.

Her lawyer Eugene Espedido, denied they failed to file the appeal within the prescribed period after their pre-proclamation petition was thrown out, leading ostensibly to the decision to proclain the winners on May 26.

The order to proclaim the winners was made after the clerk at the Comelec central office certified that as of 5 p.m. of Friday, May 25, no appeal from Patalinghug on the rejection of her pre-proclamation protest was received by said office.

Lapu-lapu City election officer Ann Janette Lamban personally received in Manila the order to proclaim and as soon as she got back that was the very first thing she did.

Patalinghug filed a pre-proclamation protest questioning 157 election returns for the alleged irregularties.

Radaza lawyer Richard Sison admitted having been informed that an appeal was sent by Patalinghug to the Comelec in Manila but that it was through mail.

" Wala na mi labot kon wala madawat sa Comelec ang ilang appeal ( do not blame us if the Comelec did not receive their appeal ), " Sison said. ( Gregg Rubio, Jose Sollano/NLQ/JST )