Congress declares Gwen winner of 2013 polls

Cong. Gwendolyn Garcia

Congress has declared former Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia as the duly elected representative of Cebu’s 3rd district.

The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) dismissed for “lack of merit” the electoral protest filed by former Pinamungajan mayor Geraldine Yapha contesting Garcia’s victory in the May 2013 automated elections.

After an initial revision and appreciation of ballots in the protested clustered precincts Garcia’s margin of victory over Yapha went up from 1,984 votes to 2,275 votes, or an additional 291 votes.

“Since no recovery of votes was established in favor of Yapha, the dismissal of the protest without further proceedings was found to have been in order,” said HRET Chairperson and Supreme Court Associate Justice Prebitero Velasco Jr. in the ruling.

The protested clustered precincts represented 25 percent of the total number of precincts in the third district,  Garcia’s lawyer Tranquil Salvador said they are elated with the outcome of the case.

“The ruling of the HRET confirmed our long standing position that Congresswoman Gwen was the legally elected and proclaimed Representative for Cebu’s third district,” he said in a text message to CDN.

After losing in the last 2013 elections, Yapha filed an election protest against Garcia, claiming that some ballots in the towns of Aloguinsan, Asturias, Balamban, Barili, Pinamungahan, Tuburan, and Toledo City were not counted by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

But Yapha eventually filed an Urgent Motion to Withdraw Election Protest and Unused Cash Deposit wherein she stated that she is withdrawing her protest, but not conceding her loss in the 2013 elections.

Salvador said the HRET decision renders moot Yapha’s withdrawal and clearly affirms Garcia’s victory and proclamation as the duly elected representative of Cebu’s 3rd district.