Councilor Philip Zafra |CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Winning the disqualification case she filed against a person with the same surname as hers does not automatically give Lawyer Marie Velle “Amay” Abella a seat in Cebu City Council.
This was how Councilor Philip Zafra reacted to reports that Abella will unseat him after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division ruled in favor of the disqualification of a certain Sherwin Luie Abella.
Read more: Comelec favors disqualification case filed by BOPK ally vs candidate with same surname in May polls
Zafra placed 8th in the Cebu City South District Council race with an over 5,000-vote lead against Lawyer Abella.
Lawyer Marie Velle Abella | CDN Digital file photo
With the decision, Lawyer Abella hopes to get the 20, 262 votes cast for Sherwin during the May 13 elections. If the votes for Sherwin will be added to Abella’s 110, 131 votes, the latter will have a total of 130,393 votes or over 15,000 votes higher that Zafra’s 115, 292 votes.
The five-page resolution signed by Commissioner Al Pareño, however, did not mention that Sherwin’s votes would be counted in favor of Lawyer Abella.
“She has the right to exhaust all legal remedies to claim a seat in the council. But for now, considering that it was not stated in the decision, kana lang sa,” Zafra said in an interview on Sunday, July 7.
“If we look at the title of the case, it was to declare a certain Sherwin Abella a nuisance candidate. It was not even a protest against my election,” he added.
In her petition, Lawyer Abella claimed that Sherwin sought election “to put the election process in mockery and disrepute or cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the Petitioner and Respondent’s surname.”
Read more: Comelec: Second Osmeña in Cebu City mayoral race, a ‘nuisance’
On May 2, 2019, a week before the polls, the Comelec en banc also disqualified a certain Paulino Osmeña who had the same family name as former Mayor Tomas Osmeña who was then running for reelection.
The Comelec in the same resolution ordered that the votes cast for Paulino shall be counted in favor of former Mayor Osmeña./dbs