COMELEC upholds May 10 victory of Surigao Norte solon

SURIGAO CITY — The Commission On Election (COMELEC) Second Division has declared Guillermo A. Romarate Jr. the winner in the May 2010 congressional race for the second district of Surigao del Norte. In doing so, the poll body, has dismissed for lack merit the petition of losing Nationalista Party bet, former Mayor Alfonso Cassura of this city, to nullify the election results certified by the Surigao del Norte Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC). In an eight-page decision penned by COMELEC Commissioners Elias Yusoph and Lucenito Tagle, the Second Division ruled that Cassura’s petition had no merit after the former mayor failed to present substantial evidence supporting his allegations that the canvassing of the PBOC was done “in a precipitate manner." In the March 27, 2011 resolution obtained by this correspondent, the COMELEC pointed out that the petition was in fact a mixture of pre-proclamation controversies and election protest over which the poll body has no jurisdiction. Commissioners Yusoph and Tagle specifically mentioned that Romarate has already been proclaimed has commenced serving his second term, which contradicted any allegations of pre-proclamation controversy. In same resolution, they pointed out that Cassura cannot claim that his petition deals with alleged illegal proceedings conducted the PBOC, supposedly discovered after Romarate was proclaimed, considering that the former mayor and his lawyers were aware that Romarate was about to be proclaimed. The poll body’s Second Division also dismissed on Jan. 19, 2011 a similar petition filed by Cassura, Surigao del Norte former Gov. Robert Ace Barbers and former Vice Gov. Noel P. Catre against Romarte, the Municipal Board of Canvassers of Sison in Surigao del Norte, Governor-elect Sol. F. Matugas and Vice Governor-elect Arturo Carlos A. Egay Jr. — Ben Serrano/VS, GMA News