Manila: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ruled to deny three electoral protests for local positions in the May 2025 midterm polls. In a statement, the Comelec First Division disclosed that election protest cases for the positions of Cebu governor, Dumaguete City mayor, and Catanduanes governor have been dismissed.
According to Philippines News Agency, the poll protest filed by Gwendolyn Garcia against Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro was rejected for being "insufficient in form and content." The alleged irregularities, such as repeated automated counting machine (ACM) rejection, paper jams, and defective markers, were considered technical incidents covered by contingency procedures, not grounds for protest. Additionally, these issues were not specified in detail to justify a recount.
The protest was dismissed due to the failure to meet the mandatory requirement of detailed specifications of the acts or omissions complained of, showing electoral frauds, anomalies, or irregularities in the protested precincts. The petitioner had cited grounds for protest, including electoral fraud through electronic means, vote padding, malfunctioning ACMs, and unusually high undervotes/overvotes involving all 4,120 clustered precincts in Cebu.
Similarly, the election protest of Felipe Claudio Remollo against Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel "Chiquiting" Sagarbarria was also dismissed due to non-compliance with the mandatory form and content requirements. The protestant failed to indicate the total number of precincts in Dumaguete City, the protested precincts, and the votes of the parties per the Statement of Votes by Precinct (SOVP). Additionally, there was a lack of detailed specification of the acts/omissions showing electoral frauds in the protested precincts.
The Comelec noted that Remollo, who contested all clustered precincts, identified only one clustered precinct where an irregularity (denial of watcher access) was alleged, supported by one witness affidavit. Furthermore, the Comelec stated it had already addressed the allegation of discrepancies between registered voters and ballots cast resulting from "mislabeled" or "uncleaned" data.
In another case, the commission dismissed the poll protest of Peter "Bosste" Cua against Catanduanes Governor Patrick Alain Azanza as "moot and academic" since Cua had been disqualified as a candidate for governor of the said municipality for the May 2025 elections. The Comelec noted that the En Banc resolution had become final and executory, and with Cua's disqualification, he lost his locus standi, or legal standing, in the case, rendering the controversy moot and academic.
