Respect legal process, Dys ask supporters

MANILA, Philippines - Isabela’s Dy family asked its supporters yesterday to await the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the appeal of Gov. Grace Padaca for it to reverse its ruling unseating her.

Speaking for the family, third district Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III said they and their followers would respect the legal process and would not resort to any precipitate action that would result in a confrontation between them and Padaca and her supporters.

He said their provincemates should remain calm and patient before the case involving his brother Benjamin and Padaca is finally resolved.

Last week, the Comelec ordered the Isabela governor to vacate her post and give way to Benjamin Dy, whom it declared as having won over Padaca in the 2007 elections by just a little over 1,000 votes.

The governor appealed the ruling and can still go to the Supreme Court to question it.

Rep. Dy is a candidate for governor of his province. His running mate is first district Rep. Rodolfo “Rodito” Albano III.

Rep. Dy said the Comelec decision to install his brother as the duly elected governor “is a testament to the fact that justice has finally been served.”

He said based on the decision, “massive cheating was perpetrated in 13 towns as discovered by Comelec personnel who examined the ballots in these areas.”

He said the commission could have resolved the case much earlier “had it not been for the delays caused by the Padaca camp.”

For his part, Albano urged the governor and her followers to let justice prevail.

“They should accept defeat if the Comelec throws out their appeal and insist on its decision that they were defeated. Anyway, the next elections are just a few months away,” he said.

At the same time, Rep. Dy urged the Liberal Party (LP) not to ascribe “malice and politics” to the Comelec decision unseating Padaca.

“This is not about politics. It’s about electoral fraud and determining who is the legitimate winner and governor of our province,” he said.

Padaca belongs to the LP. Before Padaca, the Comelec unseated another LP member, Bulacan Gov. Jonjon Mendoza, and ruled that former governor Roberto Pagdanganan won over him.

This has prompted LP leaders to suspect that the twin decisions were politically motivated and aimed at decimating their ranks.

LP’s standard-bearers, Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Mar Roxas, are leading their opponents by a wide margin in the latest Social Weather Stations survey.