Comelec: Taguig recount results may come out 'any time' soon

“Tapos na ang decryption. Results will come out any time,” said Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes about the recent recount of the ballots cast in the contested May 2010 Taguig mayoralty race. “So makikita na natin kung mananalo o talo ang asawa niya,” he added, referring to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, whose wife, Ma. Laarni Cayetano, was sworn in as Taguig mayor after the election. The mayor’s opponent, retired associate justice Dante Tiñga, filed a protest questioning the result after Cayetano was declared the winner by a mere 2,420 votes. Brillantes said that the result of the recount may be out by the end of August or the first week of September.   Comelec First Division Commissioner Rene Sarmiento ordered the decryption, which involves using picture images of the ballots, after earlier attempts by the poll body to retrieve the ballot boxes from the Taguig City Hall failed. Brillantes said that after decrypting, they no longer need the ballot boxes.   “Kanya na ‘yun,” he said, referring to the incumbent mayor. “Hindi na namin titingnan. Makikita naman namin balota din e. Ang rule naman is follow the image rather than the ballots e.”     Asked what would happen next, Brillantes said, “Dalawa lang. We are opening 20 percent only e, so kapag may mali, pupunta [kami sa] remaining 80 percent. Matagal pa ‘yon. Yung 20 percent nga inabot ng two years e. Pag natapos na 'yung 80 percent, magka-counter protest pa sila. Pag walang nakita, dismiss na yung protest.” — BM, GMA News