The Commission on Elections (COMELEC), on Tuesday declared former Governor Benjamin Dy the rightful winner of the 2007 Isabela Elections for governor, and ordered Governor Grace Padaca to vacate the position immediately.
The almost two and a half year recount finally ended with former Governor Dy winning by just a margin of around 1,051 votes. In COMELEC’s 2007 results where Gov. Padaca was declared the winner of Dy, the results were not as close, as Gov. Padaca won by a margin of around 17,000 votes.
It was only last year that former Governor Dy chose to file an election fraud protest with the COMELEC, accusing Padaca’s camp of padding their vote count and further accused that the votes were filled up by just one person with thousands of ballots allegedly all having the same handwriting. Gov. Padaca has denied this and has stated unequivocally that for years, it was the Dy’s that had resorted to cheating.
In the final recount, more votes were shaved off of Gov. Padaca’s total count than was deducted from Benjamin Dy’s vote count, and thus yielded the closer margin and overturning the 2007 election results in favor of Dy.
THE SUDDEN REVIVAL OF ELECTION PROTESTS
The sudden revival of three election protests all involving Liberal Party candidates and/or supporters has many worried that this is indeed a political move, which Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer of COMELEC has denied. It was just last December 1 where LP candidate and former KAMPI party member, Bulacan Governor Joselito Mendoza was also unseated favoring Roberto Pagdanganan who is currently with Lakas-KAMPI-CMD. With Gov. Padaca’s removal and unseating, this will be the second in just this month that LP has lost two of its Governors to recounts.
Furthermore, Ferrer indicated that there would be another surprise coming next week as they may be ready to decide the fate of former Gov. Lilia Pineda’s protest against Pampanga Governor Among Ed Panlilio’s win in the 2007 elections. Gov. Ed Panlilio has also publicly supported the candidacy of LP Presidential Candidate Noynoy Aquino.
with reports from GMANews.tv, Inquirer.net
Popularity: 1% [?]
Beware of those unseen hands. They can remove you from office.
Chairman Melo is a former Justice of SC and a Kapampangan. Of all the members of the Comelec, I can only vouch for one, my classmate Rene Sarmiento. But once you work in the kitchen, it is impossible that you don’t soil yourself with the kitchen sink, the pot or the pan. While Rene is a good person and amiable at that, he would be eaten alive by his peers if he would not play ball with them.
Rene was an associate of Jose W. Diokno, had put up his own law office after Ka Pepe died. He could have just remained a solo practising lawyer and be relatively cleaner than those around him who dispenses tremendous power for the right price.
the analogy of working in the kitchen fits well.. Remember 2007 and Sarmiento’s fall from grace.. I was dismayed..
This is the same COMELEC we’re supposed to trust with automated elections.
if the votes are clear by virtue of automation, comelec may find it hard to manipulate the result. manual tally creates more areas for manipulation.
COMELEC automation is imperative, otherwise time and again, Pinas will have controversies like below:
HRET – House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).
Love the crisp way things are handled here. Nice and tight. Clear and forthright. Builds confidence.
Joe
i wish the reporting on this matter is clearer. its hard to understand how such a large lead could lead to a tiny deficit.
GabbyD, that’s just it, it’s a sham, it’s not meant to be understood.. It’s vote shaving. It’s just that Padaca had more votes taken off which lead to the eventual declaration by COMELEC.
Of course it doesn’t make sense, it’s not supposed to. When it takes 2 1/2 years, just in time for 2010 campaign season, the only thing to understand is a clear COMELEC bias.
And then Philippine government officials will blame the US when the Philippines does not receive grants from the US because of corruption. No sense of self-responsibility at all. Pig-headed refusal to connect the dots. Blame, blame, blame . . .
Joe
When Padaca visited us here in Calgary, I was impressed with her and in such a short time she wanted me to connect her to the technology schools here in Calgary that might be interested in establishing joint venture schools in Isabela. She spoke about the nascent mining industry in the province and that she supports it as long as it is environmentally sustainable. She spoke about the health cards that she was her dearest project because she made it available to everyone. Some relatives I spoke to are full of praises about the progress during her tenure in Isabela, being a major rice granary of Phil. She did not even had time to eat her dinner since she was so busy trying to get ideas on how she can get contacts that will help her with her projects in the Phil. or invest in Isabela This is truly a sad day.
They DYs of Isabela is a Political Dynasty. The Political
Dynasty was started by Faustino Dy, the late Governor.
The Dy family got rich by Narra Illegal Logging in the nearby
Sierra Madre Mountains.
Gov. Padaca is an idealist politician. The Dys are like any
other political family dynasties in the Philippines. They
were with Marcos, when Marcos was in power. Now, they are
with the Arroyos.
They will be with whoever is in power – Aquinos included.
Well, at least HALF of Isabelans voted for their Lord Dy.
They should have delivered a strong majority for Padaca in the first place. (Assuming they voted with free will rather than intimidation from the trapo Dys)
So this means the province wants to be stuck in the Dark ages with the Dy Dynasty.
Problema na nila yan. They can have Dy for eternity.
Thank god I’m not Isabelan.
For gov Panlilio, what happens next?
Didn’t MLQ3-the explainer in his blogsite have comments that based on surveys, it was the elite and not the masa who put Gov Panlilio into power? If some of the votes previously counted for Panlilio proved to be elite-for-Panlilio doing hocus-pocus, then Panlilio can get ousted.
There is no doubt in my mind that Panlilio is next.
di lahat ng mababangong salita ay tama.. alam ng mga tao na ang mga DY parin ang mga tunay na naninilbihan sa mga Isabelino!
Dy Dynasty Lover!
30 years of Dy and it’s still a crappy province with lots of 4th and 5th class municipalities, a dwindling forest cover, and jueteng.
Obviously, the Dys are crap administrators.
But then again, yan ang gusto ng mga tao diyan eh. So hayaan mo sila.
Same with Pampanga. Mabango ang pangalan ni Bong Pineda at GMA riyan.
Farming province (rice and sugarcane), pero hangga ngayon pabulok ang irrigation system, talamak ang jueteng, subali’t love ng mga Kapampangan ang pamilyang Bong Pineda at Macapagal Arroyo.
Dahil ang kaliwang kamay ng dalawang pamilyang ito ay namumudbod ng barya sa mga kabalens nila.
Saan ka, ang kanang kamay ay nakadukot sa mga bulsa ng kanilang mga nasasakupan.
Kaya, hayaan mo sila, iyan ang gusto ng mga tao diyan.
The late Faustino Dy was a Brute. He used intimidations, murders
and threats to Political Leaders. Marcos looked the other way.
There was an NPA insurgency in the Province. The late Faustino
Dy had Marcos got ZERO votes in the Voting Precints in Cauayan,
Isabela. His residence and controled political territory. After
Marcos won. Marcos used him to cheat in elections. Like Arroyo
used the Ampatuans.