Red Durano calls for manual counting of votes in Cebu’s fifth district

Durano

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The fight is not yet over for former congressman Ramon “Red” Durano VI.

In his protest filed on July 15, Durano called on the House of Representatives Election Tribunal (HRET) to conduct a manual count of the votes for the candidates under the House of Representatives in the fifth district.

Durano said there were “glaring irregularities recorded and observed during election day,” which happened on May 13, 2019.

Among the irregularities that Durano pointed out is the alleged malfunctioning of the vote-counting machines which caused a delay of at least four hours in several areas.

Durano argued that the delay “disenfranchised voters in several areas.”

“In several incidents, voters who voted for Rep. Durano complained that the voter’s receipts did not reflect the name of Cong. Red Durano,” he said in a statement sent to CDN Digital.

“This part of the automated election system, the appreciation and counting of votes cast, is very crucial but which the poll watchers have no participation at all. The manual recount is the ultimate way to know the truth,” added Durano.

The statement said Durano’s party is determined to seek the truth and to “see this case through, be it a year or a decade.”

Danao City Mayor Ramon Durano III, Red’s father and the chairman of the Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud) Party, said it was questionable that the younger Durano lost when their partymates won in nine out of the 11 towns in the fifth district.

Incumbent Fifth District Representative Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco unseated Red in the May 2019 polls with a margin of over 36,000 votes.

This is the first time in 70 years that the district which is composed of the city of Danao and towns of Borbon, Carmen, Catmon, Compostela, Liloan, Pilar, Poro, San Francisco, Sogod and Tudela is ruled by an individual that is not from the Duranos’  Bakud Party.

READ: Frasco breaks 70-year-reign of Duranos in fifth district

In a media statement, Frasco said the electoral protest that Durano’s camp filed “only confirms just how out of touch he is with the people of the fifth district.”

“The Duranos’ inability to accept that people want change and a better life is symptomatic of the tyrannical rule that has shackled the 5th District for far too long. This is precisely the type of governance that both President Rodrigo Duterte and Mayor Sara Duterte abhor, as they, too, wanted change in the 5th, by endorsing my candidacy against Red Durano,” Frasco said.

Frasco is yet to receive a copy of the protest.

Frasco said he welcomes the protest as an opportunity to “affirm” his 36,000 lead in the fifth district congressional race. / celr