Court junks poll protest vs Northern Samar town mayor

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — A local court has dismissed the election protest filed by defeated mayoral candidate Lope Dorado Jr. against Mayor Antet Rosales of Catarman in Northern Samar.

In a decision dated Aug. 22, the Northern Samar Regional Trial Court Branch 20 declared the validity of the proclamation of Rosales as the duly elected mayor of Catarman.

Rosales got 24,701 votes while Dorado garnered 22,660 votes.

In filing an election protest, Dorado cited irregularities in the conduct of the May 9 polls.

He claimed some of the votes were not counted in his favor.

Dorado said there was also ”massive substitution” of voters in the clustered precincts in Barangays Polangi, Cag-abaca, Macagtas, General Malvar and Imelda.

However, the court said Dorado failed to present proof to justify the nullification of the election results.

The questioned ballots, even if nullified, do not satisfy the 50 percent threshold to affect the results of the elections, the court said.

It added that the alleged irregularities should have been reflected in the precinct records during the casting of votes or in a police blotter.