Patalinjug wants Senate to investigate Lapu-Lapu’s election results

Defeated Lapu-Lapu City mayoralty candidate Rolando Patalinjug (Kusgano-PDP-Laban) is set to petition the Senate to include in its investigation alleged electoral discrepancies in the city during the May 9 elections.

Outgoing Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy, adviser and founder of local party Kusgano, said they had so far gathered 30,000 signatures of their supporters asking for a Senate investigation and affidavits of ten people who claimed to have personally encountered discrepancies while they were voting.

They even showed two empty black boxes, where vote receipts were deposited, allegedly abandoned by Commission on Election (Comelec) personnel at the Marigondon Elementary School.

School children were seen playing with the black boxes before Sitoy’s group took them as evidence.

“Gi ampingan unta ni sa Comelec kay importante man tong mga resibo. Ambot og nganong gilabay na ni nila,” said Sitoy. (Comelec should have taken care of this because the receipts were important. I don’t know why they trashed it).

He added they did not report the recovery of the black boxes to the Comelec in Lapu-Lapu as they might want to take the evidence. Instead, he said, they would rather seek help from President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

Sitoy said he was confident that they would get help from presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. “Kita gud ang nagdala niya, nga masaligon ta nga iya tang tabangan (We were the ones who carried him here in Cebu, I am confident he will help us),” said the mayor.

Sitoy said they also would want to see how the Vote Counting Machine (VCM) transmits and gets the sum of all votes, “lisud kaayo tuhoan kay kadaghan pa gud na i-transmit unya wala ta kahibalo giunsa,” he said. (It’s hard to believe as it is transmitted several times and we do not know how).

Kevin Telcio, 21, a Patalinjug supporter and resident of Barangay Basak, narrated that on Election Day, he shaded his ballot and voted for Patalinjug as mayor but when he reviewed his receipt, he allegedly the name of Paz Radaza as the mayor he voted for.

He said he complained to the Board of Election Inspector (BEI) in his precinct but he claimed he was told to just deposit his receipt on the box and they would just write down his concern in the minutes.

“Nagtuo ko nga duna’y tikas nga nahitabo kay dili man mao ang nigawas sa resibo (I believe there was cheating as the receipt did not reflect who I voted for),” said Telcio in a press conference held at Patalinjug’s residence this afternoon.

Tantan Sabalones, a candidate for city councilor, also claimed that he did not see his name on his receipt and, like Telcio, was also just told to deposit his receipt, as they would take note of his concern in the minutes.

Rizalino Ompad, another Patalinjug supporter from Talima, Olango Island , claimed that Mayor Radaza’s consultant, Charles Vailoces, allegedly asked him to look for anyone who would take on his P500,000 bet in favor of Radaza, with 15-0 vote in favor of Radaza’s camp.

“Giunsa man nila pagsiguro nga molusot tanan nilang line-up? Nagtuo ko nga duna gyud siguro’y anomaliya,” he said. (How sure he was that all in their line up will win? I believe there was an anomaly).

Three other voters from Barangay Mactan also claimed they voted for Rodrigo Duterte for president and Patalinjug for mayor but were surprised to see that the name of Mar Roxas for president and Radaza for mayor came out in the receipt. The teachers allegedly also only took note of their concerns.

Lawyer Ferdie Dungog, PDP-Laban counsel, said they would also file a case before the Office of the Ombudsman against the teachers for violation of the Election Code.