The Commission on Elections Second Division has dismissed the election protest lodged by former Bacolod mayor Evelio Leonardia against incumbent Alfredo Benitez, “for being improperly filed and for being insufficient in form and content”.
In an order dated Sept. 7, and signed by Second Division Presiding Commissioner Marlon Casquejo, and Senior Member Commissioner Rey Bulay, they ruled that “though denominated as Petition for Election Protest, an in-depth reading of the same would reveal that it is in the nature of a complaint for an election offense…”
“To allow this Petition for Election Protest to prosper would not only expand the scope of the authority of the Commission (Second Division) as to cover prosecution and investigation of election offenses but would also do injustice, first, to the Protestant (Leonardia), whose reliefs clearly intended could not be legally provided by this tribunal and, second, to the Protestee (Benitez), whose rights would be desecrated if the instant Petition for Election Protest be taken cognizance by this body which has no authority to do so,” the eight-page order states.
It bears stressing that the process of manual recount is not a tool intended to replace proof with suppositions or evidence with assumptions, the order noted. “Baseless and unsubstantiated protests remain impermissible in order to fully protect the true will of the electorate as truthfully reflected in the results of the elections.
“Though defeat in any elections is desolating for the losing candidate, an election protest must not be mused as a vindication of a lost opportunity to serve the public, or worst, as an unjustified assertion of a wounded pride.”
The Comelec Second Division referred the case to the Law Department “for further investigation on the alleged violation of the Omnibus Election Code on vote-buying, illegal campaigning and wearing of uniforms and bearing arms”.*
