NEWSBRIEFS N E W S B R I E F S 05/25/2010

NEWSBRIEFS

N E W S B R I E F S 05/25/2010 Nograles wants mayoralty race result reversed Outgoing Speaker and losing mayoralty candidate Prospero Nograles yesterday petitioned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to annul the proclamation of Sara Duterte and declare him as the duly elected mayor of Davao City. In his 14-page petition, Nograles urged the Comelec to annul the proclamation of Duterte on the basis that irregularities had attended the conduct of the elections and that fraud was so massive that it affected the results of the polls in the entire 1,172 clustered precincts in Davao City. He also claimed that the election process was open to wholesale cheating when the Comelec recalled all the compact flash cards from the precinct count optical scan machines and the removal of the required digital signatures of the board of election inspectors in the electronically transmitted election returns. “Premised on the antecedent facts, the canvassing and proclamation of the protestee (Duterte) is null and void on the ground that electronically transmitted results does not contain the mandated digital signature,” Nograles said. Delay in President, VP’s proclamation quizzed Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal yesterday said “the lack of digital signatures of election returns” or other “formal defects” are not enough valid grounds to cause the delay of the proclamation of the duly elected President and Vice President of the country. “The (formal defects are) not a valid or legal ground to assail or question the results of the election nor can (they) be the basis to question the inclusion of certificates of canvass (CoC) during the presidential canvass,” Macalintal said. He said such defect, if there is any, is a mere “formal defect” (or defect in form) which “does not affect the due execution and authenticity of the CoC nor can it delay the canvass and proclamation of winners.” Macalintal stressed that while digital signatures may be required by law, the Supreme Court held in various cases that “election laws are mandatory only before the elections.” “(This is) especially done to make (these formal requirements) mandatory and will disenfranchise the electorate who are not parties to such defective forms,” he said.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100525nat2.html

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