By Fernan Angeles
TAKING cue from a Supreme Court request for their position, the Commission on Elections stood firm that there was no failure of elections in 2016 in the contested provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Maguindanao.
The high tribunal, which sits as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), sought the Comelec to provide a report from where SC members would determine if there was indeed a failure of elections in the three Mindanao provinces, where Bongbong Marcos claims to have been cheated during the 2016 vice presidential race.
Former Senator Marcos earlier asked PET to declare votes in the 3 provinces null and void.
The votes in these Mindanao provinces is the last option of the young Marcos as rendering the votes in this places would result in Marcos’ victory. Liberal Party’s Leni Robredo was proclaimed winner with a margin of over 200,000 votes against the Marcos who fell second in the vice-presidential derby.
Comelec said that they have in fact dismissed all 8 Marcos petitions to declare failure of elections in those provinces. Seven of them had been issued with certificates of finality, except for the petition in Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao.
“Accordingly, no special elections were held or conducted in the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao in connection with the 2016 National and Local Elections (NLE),” Comelec said in its compliance to the Supreme Court. It was signed by the Comelec’s Law Department Directors Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal and John Rex Laudiangco.