Comelec unseats Padaca

MANILA, Philippines - The Second Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday unseated Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca, the second governor perceived to be against the Arroyo administration who lost the position in two weeks.

The Second Division, composed of presiding Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer and Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph, declared former Isabela governor Benjamin Dy as the duly elected governor in the 2007 elections and gave Padaca five days to file a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec.

In a 12,092-page decision, the Comelec said Dy won the 2007 mid-term polls with a vote margin of 1,051 against Padaca who has been a critic of President Arroyo.

Dy, who served as Isabela governor for three terms, belongs to the Lakas-CMD-Kampi.

In a statement, Dy said he was not surprised with the decision. 

“Finally, justice is served and the real voice of the people is heard,” he said.

For her part, Padaca said, “It’s saddening but not surprising. I hope the (Comelec) would find more credence in our (arguments).”

Padaca is seeking her third and final term as governor under the Liberal Party (LP) against another Dy scion, outgoing third district Rep. Faustino Dy III. 

Hours before the Comelec ruling, Padaca belied the Dy camp’s allegations that she cheated her way to her second gubernatorial term in 2007.

“I am no cheater,” she said in an e-mail to The STAR. “I won over former governor Benjamin Dy by 17,207 votes. How dare they accuse me of being a cheater when all these years cheating, terrorism, influence peddling have been the way by which they have kept their dynasty in power?”

Padaca was declared Isabela governor by the Comelec by virtue of the 64,980 votes she garnered against Dy’s 47,454.

Alleging electoral fraud, Dy though filed an electoral protest that prompted the Comelec to conduct a revision of the votes cast in the 2007 gubernatorial race. 

Dy alleged that many of the votes for Padaca were fabricated or written by just one person.

After the revision, the poll body found that Dy got 199,435 votes against Padaca’s 198,384, or a margin of 1,051 votes.

“I am glad that the Comelec saw the basis of glaring violations of the election (system) in Isabela as evident by markings on the ballots,” Dy said.

“Furthermore, thousands of ballots with the same handwriting in favor of my political opponent in several contested precincts were also presented that deprived my candidacy of the needed votes to win in the 2007 elections,” he added.

Lawyer Maria Bernadette Sardillo, Dy’s legal counsel, told Comelec reporters that they intend to file a petition with the poll body for the immediate release of a writ of execution to implement the decision.

Sardillo said Dy does not intend to use force to take the gubernatorial seat from Padaca. 

Padaca, who won the governorship in 2004 against Dy’s elder brother, then governor Faustino Dy Jr., ending the Dys’ hold on the top provincial post for more than three decades, also has a pending election counter-protest against the Dy camp. 

Last Dec. 1, the Second Division also ordered Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza to vacate his post as it declared former governor Roberto Pagdanganan as the winner in the 2007 elections.

The division ruled that after revising the votes in the Bulacan gubernatorial race, it turned out that Pagdanganan had a winning margin of 4,321 votes over Mendoza.

Prior to the Comelec ruling, Mendoza belonged to Kampi, which forged a merger with Lakas–CMD, but jumped to LP. Pagdanganan is running for governor in 2010 under the Nacionalista Party. – With Charlie Lagasca