Comelec failed to set proclamation of winners

BAGUIO CITY (June 22) — The Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) of Isabela province will convene on June 27 to canvass the votes from two Isabela towns, Ilagan and Tumauini, according to Governor Grace Padaca.

Faustino Dy is contesting 109 election returns from Ilagan and 61 election returns from Tumauini, claimed Raffy Jacinto, an official of the Proclaim Now Movement (PNM), an alliance of various sectoral groups calling for the proclamation of the winning gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial candidates of Isabela.

Earlier, Dy claimed the election returns in the said towns should be excluded from the canvassing due to alleged fraud. He also called for the non-proclamation of the winners, particularly in the top two positions.

This time however, the Commission on Election (Comelec) en banc ordered the Isabela PBOC to convene on July 27 and canvass the said votes from the two towns.

The last Comelec count showed that Padaca had been leading over Dy Jr.

Jacinto claimed in an interview that their group PNM was founded after the Comelec failed to respect the votes of the people of Isabela by their failure to proclaim the winner in the two top positions.

Meanwhile, Celso Pagat-patan Jr., a PNM convenor, commented on the black propaganda allegedly being brought out by Dy camp against Gov. Padaca. “In the recent electoral campaign, one of the propaganda against Padaca is the scarcity of medicines and supplies and limited health workers in the government hospitals,” Pagatpatan’s statement read.

To several health professionals, she is considered unpopular. But these problems are decades old, that is even true among other provincial officials after the devolution of health services that started in 1991 during the term of her current opponent former Gov. Benjamin Dy. Also in 2001, under Gov. Faustino Dy Jr., where 10 community hospitals were closed down,” the statement further read.

Pagatpatan pointed out that the non-proclamation of the winners would derail and deprive the people from social services, particularly health services. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS