Imelda Papin files electoral protest vs. Arnulfo Fuentebella

Jukebox queen Imelda Papin on Monday filed an electoral protest seeking the nullification of Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) proclamation of former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella as the winner in the race for representative of the Fourth District of Camarines Sur.

In a 25-page protest that she personally filed before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) in Quezon City, Papin urged the court to order the manual recount of ballots in the municipalities of the Fourth District of Camarines Sur following reports of vote counting irregularities as well as vote-buying particularly in the town of Tinambac.

Papin claimed that there were also more than 24,000 votes for her that were supposedly declared invalid by the Comelec.

“Wherefore, protestant respectfully prays that…after manual recount or revision of the ballots, including the manual revision and counting of the rejected ballots and upon determination that the protestant obtained the highest number of votes,” Papin’s electoral protest read.

“…this Honorable Court render judgment annulling and setting aside the proclamation of the protestee and declaring the protestant as the duly elected member of the House of Representatives representing the 4th District of Camarines Sur.”

Fuentebella garnered 83,969 votes on May 9 elections or a lead of just 740 votes against Papin’s 83,229 votes. —JST, GMA News