Former Congressman Celso Lobregat through his legal counsel is set to file today, Monday with the Comelec En Banc, a motion for reconsideration on the electoral protest he earlier filed against Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar.
Lobregat explained that their motion for reconsideration is proper considering the dismissal of the electoral protest was only based on technicality.
In fact, Lobregat said, only two of the three commissioners, Commissioner Luie Tito Guia and Commissioner Soccoro Inting voted to dismiss the case while Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr, inhibited himself from voting.
The two commissioners dismissed the case based on two grounds: That the Board of canvassers and Treasurer should not be included as respondents in the complaint and that the complaint was insufficient in form and substance.
“We specified in substance that the ballot boxes of the 379 precincts should be opened and counted manually so that the true will of the people will prevail,” Lobregat said.
Lobregat emphasized that the rule on a technicality should not be made a reason to just throw the case out because there are cases decided earlier by the court which says that obstacle and technical ties can terminate the electoral protest.
“There is also fake news circulating stating that the case I filed was dismissed because the ballot boxes have already been opened and there was already a manual recount and based from the result of the supposed manual recount the case was dismissed. That is fake news,” Lobregat added.
If Climaco-Salazar really won the elections, then why is her camp trying to prevent the opening of the ballot boxes for a manual recount, the former lawmaker stressed.
“We hope to be given our day in court. Let us not preempt the decision, but if it is again denied by the Comelec En Banc then we will go to the high court, we will move one step at a time”, Lobregat further added.