 Elections 2008 nearly ended in court after a lawsuit condemning the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for not undergoing due process was filed by Reporma ng mga Mag-aaral – Alliance of Concerned Students (REPORMA-ACS) party last September 20.
The issue stemmed from the planned recounting of ballots from the College of Nursing (CON) after COMELEC invalidated votes that were cast in favor of RIGHTS’ running Secretary for Public Relations, Tayler Sayucop, and vying Secretary for Audit, Leizel Pel-uy. Jonathan Bosantog, new President of the Kataastaasang Sanggunihan ng mga Mag-aaral/Supreme Student Council (KASAMA/SSC), said in his petition letter that the COMELEC failed “to arrange the lists of candidates with their corresponding positions as reference such that it will be the same to the sequence in the official ballot,” stressing that it “created a confusion to the Louisian voters.” REPORMA-ACS illustrated that “Nursing students wrote Sayucop’s name on the space provided for their choice for Secretary for Audit when in fact, Sayucop was a candidate for Secretary for Public Relations. This was despite the fact that the KASAMA/SSC COMELEC’s master list posted in the Nursing precincts correctly placed Sayucop’s name under the office Secretary for Public Relations.” The same applied to Pel-uy’s name. “This was also besides the fact that Pel-uy’s name was correctly written under the position Secretary for Audit on the master list posted in all Nursing precincts,” REPORMA-ACS added. They pushed that the stray votes were considered invalid and cannot be counted (or considered in a recount) in favor of the candidates.
Responding to the alleged mix-up, RIGHT’s Bosantog pushed for a recount on all the precincts of CON. “We hope for an immediate recount and that the interchanged votes of Sayucop and Pel-uy be counted in their favor,” he said. As you wishCOMELEC arranged a recount of votes at the Waldo Perfecto building on September 25. However, REPORMA-ACS’s running President, Kim Calderon, filed a case against the COMELEC for not informing them about the confusion and the recount early.
“We were not given a chance to air our side,” Calderon said. “We were not given a chance to reply after the resolution [pushing for a recount] was made by the COMELEC. REPORMA-ACS’s Christian Aligo, who ran for Sec. for Public Relations, and Richard Lim, who ran for Sec. for Auditor, were affected by the proposed recount.
As of September 25, COMELEC Chairperson Venus Gumpic claimed that REPORMA-ACS forwarded a letter to the commission informing them that they will no longer file the case. According to former COMELEC Chairman, Mervin Tumada, the COMELEC should have informed both RIGHTS and REPORMA-ACS about their decision, prior to the recount. Gumpic admitted that their decision is a lapse in judgement, adding that they “only gave copies [of the resolution] after the issue has been decided. We admit that we made a mistake. We should have given them sufficient time to reply.” But the Rule says… The 2005 KASAMA/SSC Election Code (Rule VI, Section 4) states that any party adversely affected by the ruling [of the COMELEC] may appeal to the COMELEC Chairman within 24 hours. Deputy COMELEC Chairperson, Roderick Alangui, said Bosantog was not in the position to file a complaint to the commission since he was not directly affected by the mix-up. Similarly, in a joint statement, REPORMA-ACS’s Aligo and Lim said Bosantog was, “in fact, a disinterested person without legal personality to file the petition because he was not a candidate for the positions whose votes he wants to be recounted. Thus, his petition should not have been recognized nor given cognizance by the KASAMA/SSC COMELEC Commissioners.” The duo added that only Sayucop and Pel-uy of RIGHTS had the personality to file a petition for a recount. “They are the ones who ran for the positions affected. Since they did not file any election contest, there is no contest for this Honorable Body (COMELEC) to consider.” However, Bosantog stressed that “there is no provision preventing me to fight in behalf of my party.”
Confused Judgment COMELEC called for the cancellation of the recount on September 26. A day after, they ruled Bosantog’s call as null and void stressing that he was not in the position to file a complaint. Bosantog still pushed his call for a recount. “Are you accusing the 150 student-voters of being wrong?” “The voters intended to vote RIGHTS straight,” he said. If the COMELEC disapproved his next petitions, he disclosed that he will call for a failure of elections in CON. If the commission disagrees again, he will go to the Student Court, the entity that can declare the finality of COMELEC’s decisions. However, the Student Court has been inexistent since the term of Arthur Odsey in 2005. “I never advised you!” The recount on September 25 could have pushed through without delays if not for the arrival of lawyer Cheryl Yangot, former KASAMA/SSC adviser.
It was only that time when the COMELEC learned of the lawsuit where Yangot’s name was involved. Yangot stated, “I want it to be put in record that I did not advise you. I never signed anything. You violated it on your own. I received a communication this morning from REPORMA-ACS and they raised some points. But what I did not anticipate is the case filed against me.” The mishap was pacified when lawyer Bernard Padang, current COMELEC adviser, arrived. “Let us make sure we really follow [the due process],” he said, advising that they should not be afraid of suits. ‘No-show’ The absence of RIGHTS’s representatives on the hour the recount was supposed to be held caused a stir in the recount venue. Yangot said, “It means that they are not interested. It is their responsibility to come since they are the petitioners.” She then noted that the individuals concerned and not the parties involved should be present. “Bosantog shouldn’t have been the one who wrote the petition letter,” she said, citing that Sayucop and Pel-uy could have filed the complaints since they were the ones affected.
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