Wagas files bid to challenge Durano
Former Compostela Mayor Gilbert Wagas filed his certificate of candidacy as the lone challenger of Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon “Red” Durano VI for a seat in Congress.
He substituted Virgia Wagas Velasco, who filed her COC in October, saying she wanted to become an instrument in ending the dynasty of the Duranos in the 5th district.
Wagas, however, is serving a sentence in the national state penitentiary for graft charges. He was sent to Muntinlupa in 2009 after his arrest in Cebu City in relation to his conviction in charge of misappropriate P376,618.65 in public funds.
He and former municipal treasurer Dominador Maravillas were sentenced to life imprisonment or at least 30 years.
Meanwhile, Provincial Board candidate Abel Dondoyano also withdrew his candidacy.
He was accompanied by his substitute, Doris Arquillano.
According to Dondoyano, he was a proxy of their party for the position while Arquillano was on a European tour.
In Ginatilan town, south Cebu, 73 persons from Ginatilan may not vote in next year’s polls after the Commission on Election (Comelec) in Cebu disapproved their application as registered voters.
The Comelec office in Ginatilan last month received a petition filed by the barangay captains of Poblacion, Palanas and Guiwanon opposing the applications of 94 persons on the basis of lack of residence.
Lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde, Comelec Cebu provincial election officer, said the Election Registration Board (ERB) decided to disapprove the registration of 73 of them after they failed to produce evidence that they were residents of their barangays.
The ERB is composed of Gujilde as chairman, the local civil registrar, and a representative from the Department of Education (DepEd).
Both the local civil registrar and DepEd representative voted to disapprove the applications of the 73 while voted to approve those of the remaining 21.
Ten of them, Gujilde said, were able to present either a birth certificate or marriage certificate, while the barangay captains who opposed the applications of another ten withdrew their petitions.
One other voter was petitioned to be removed from the list of voters because, according to the petitioner, he wasn’t a resident of the barangay.
He said the basis is that the reckoning date is six months before the election, not registration.
Gujilde said he cannot “override” the votes because the ERB is a collegial body and decisions are made by majority vote.
However, he said that the 73 may still file a petition for inclusion before the municipal trial court.
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