Bets given until May 25 to file poll protest

CANDIDATES who wish to contest the results of the May 14 elections only have until Friday, May 25, to lodge an election protest.

Commission on Election (Comelec-7) Regional Director Veronico Petalcorin reminded parties that they can only file an election protest at most 10 calendar days after the proclamation was made by their respective Electoral Board.

Petalcorin said that most polling centers declared winners between the evening of May 14 and 15.

As of Tuesday, May 22, there was still no protest filed at the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities (MTCC).

Petalcorin said that they are only expecting a few candidates to file an election protest because of the expense that it entails.

“As they file in the MTCC, they need to pay a bond of P25,000. They also have to pay P1,000 for every precinct that they want to be recounted,” Petalcorin said in an interview with Cebu Daily News.

Petalcorin added that those candidates who want to file a protest would also need to secure all the possible evidence that lead them to suspect that an irregularity happened during the election and the counting of votes.

Qualified evidence, according to Petalcorin, may include the summary of results from each precinct and the minutes of the voting noted by the Electoral Board where complaints of each candidate’s watchers are noted.

“Others may still be suspecting of irregularities. Perhaps, they are still meeting with their lawyers as of the moment that’s why they have not filed yet,” said Petalcorin.

In an earlier interview, former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who heads the political coalition, Barug Team Rama,said that they were contemplating filing election protests.

Rama said that he was encouraging his allies, who lost in the elections, to pursue this action if they believed that they really won.