Mayor Evelio Leonardia has sought the manual recount of all 450 clustered precincts in Bacolod City and asked the Commission on Elections to declare “failure of elections” and conduct special polls in the city due to massive vote-buying and fake voters being allowed to cast their votes that resulted in the “mysterious and unbelievable” outcome last May 9, 2022.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, the spokesman of Leonardia, echoed the grounds for the mayor’s complaint lodged before the central Comelec office in Manila at a press conference at the Planta Hotel in Bacolod.
Sorongon was joined by lawyers Marcus Vaflor and Jireh Alimon.
Massive and rampant vote-buying affected the results in all of the 61 barangays and 450 clustered precincts on the weekend leading to the elections and during May 9 balloting itself, Vaflor pointed out.
“That is why our client deemed it appropriate to file the necessary complaint to know the truth with the prayer that Comelec will conduct a manual recount and consequently declare a failure of elections to pave the way for the holding of special polls,” Alimon pointed out.
Sorongon disclosed it was the first time ever that Leonardia, in his 34-year political career starting when he ran for councilor in 1988, filed an election protest because he said “the result of the recent polls was absolutely unbelievable.”
The mayor’s complaint, filed within the allowable period, was docketed as Election Protest Case No. 008-2022.
“The move of Mayor Leonardia to file a complaint was in response to the people’s clamor. The people of Bacolod want to know the truth. For them, the results were unbelievable as they pointed out the longest caravan ever mounted during our opening salvo,” Leonardia’s spokesperson said.
This was apart from “the mammoth crowd that massed during our miting de avance, the huge turnout of our daily campaigns and handshaking sorties and caucuses, and the survey results both done internally and conducted by independent institutions, on top of the sterling achievements of the current administration and a clear platform of government,” Sorongon added.
