Talk:Piddig, Ilocos Norte

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Opponent seeks to nullify Piddig mayor’s proclamation by Cristina Arzadon

LAOAG CITY (31 May) -- Claiming to have been cheated through the “dagdag-bawas” scheme, losing mayoralty candidate Augustus Salazar of Piddig town has asked the Commission on Elections to nullify the proclamation of his rival and correct alleged errors in at least 26 election returns.

Salazar, who lost by 71 votes to Generoso Aquino, Jr., filed the petition with Comelec central office on May 22 or six days after the winning mayor was proclaimed.

Salazar, who won in the 2004 elections against Aquino’s father Generoso, Sr., lost his reelection bid to the young Aquino, who ran for the first time.

In his petition, Salazar said 60 votes were padded to Aquino’s votes while the same number was slashed from his (Salazar) votes.

Based on Comelec records, Aquino garnered 4,626 votes while Salazar only got 4,555 votes.

The petition said if the actual votes were re-computed, the result of the election would run in favor of Salazar who would have won by 39 votes with 4,615 votes over Aquino’s 4,576 votes.

(This reporter, however, double-checked the figures that the candidates obtained and tried adding 60 votes to Salazar who would have gotten 4,615 votes. Aquino’s votes would have been only at 4,566 votes if 60 votes were deducted giving Salazar a lead of 49 votes. Obra could not be reached for comment at press time.)

Lawyer Sandro Marie Obra, Salazar’s counsel, said the alleged padded votes were discovered after a thorough examination of the election returns that have been canvassed.

“There were material discrepancies and manifest errors (in the election returns) which could not have been discovered during the canvassing despite the exercise of due diligence,” he said.

Obra said the election returns in question showed that a diagonal line had crossed over three vertical lines indicating that the votes had reached the fifth mark when the actual votes counted were only four.

Obra likewise noted as “suspicious” that the combined number of votes for both mayoralty candidates would be higher than the total number of votes obtained by the gubernatorial and congressional candidates in several returns.

“It is sufficient to conclude that the votes for the mayoral positions are tampered with to give the (respondent) a substantial lead,” he said.

Salazar’s counsel said a recount of votes was necessary due to the discovery that the questioned returns were either tampered or falsified. (PIA Laoag)
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