Comelec upholds poll protest against VM Labella
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) upheld the election protest filed by vice mayoral candidate Joy Augustus Young against Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella in 2013.
It also ordered the continuation of the recount and protest proceedings.
No final decision has been made yet.
In an order dated November 25, the Comelec first division said based on their recount of the 119 pilot protested precincts, Young has more than the 20 percent substantial recovery it needs to hurdle the overall lead of Labella over him.
“This possible net effect change in the results of the votes amounting to an additional 238 votes in favor of the protestant (Young) goes beyond the 37 vote requirement for substantial recovery, and is even higher than the total 184 total vote lead of the protestee (Labella) over (Young),” the Comelec said in its 84-page order.
The order was signed by presiding commissioner Christian Robert Lim and commissioners Luie Tito Guia and Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon.
Both Labella and Young though said they don’t want to think too much about the decision considering that it’s only five months before the 2016 elections.
Labella, who now sits as acting mayor since Mayor Michael Rama has been preventively suspended for 60 days, said he will let his lawyers handle the issue.
“Let them proceed. I do not want to bother myself with this,” he told reporters yesterday.
He said he will just continue focusing on the responsibilities given to him as acting mayor.
Labella is seeking reelection for his second term as vice mayor next year under Team Rama while Young is running for north district councilor under Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).
Plus, minus
Young said the Comelec order was both a “plus and a minus.”
“I never really kept my hopes up on that one since justice in recounting is very slow. It’s a minus since the election is near. On the other hand, it’s a plus and I’m happy that they announced it,” Young said.
While the Comelec still has to continue with the rest of the proceedings before deciding on the main election protest, Young said he could not be proclaimed vice mayor.
In case Young is proclaimed vice mayor at this late stage, some quarters believe Young could actually sit as acting city mayor.
But Young said he doesn’t want to think that far.
“I don’t want to be distracted by this. Only God knows. I don’t want to keep thinking about it. I’m just campaigning for Archival (as vice mayor) and also for (Tommy) Osmeña,” Young said.
Vote lead
After the May 2013 elections, Labella was proclaimed vice mayor with a vote of 203,267 while Young had 203,083. This means Labella only had a 184 vote lead.
Young filed an election protest alleging massive vote-buying, harassment, threats and intimidation, as well padding of election results.
The same protest was filed by Tomas Osmeña against Mayor Michael Rama.
After several proceedings, both Osmeña and Young filed a motion to withdraw remaining protested precincts last June 8, 2015 which was granted by Comelec.
Last month, the Comelec first division dismissed the protest filed by Osmeña against Rama for failing to achieve the 20 percent needed substantial recovery from Rama’s lead.
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