GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/16 May) — The provincial board of canvassers (PBOC) of Sarangani proclaimed the province’s winning candidates on Sunday, nearly a week after the May 9 general elections.
Lawyer Duque Kadatuan, PBOC chair and Commission on Elections Comelec) provincial supervisor, convened the board at 9:57 a.m. for the proclamation following the completion of the canvassing of votes from the province’s seven municipalities.
He said the provincial canvassing was delayed due to technical problems that affected the transmission of votes from the municipal BOCs and the printing of the official results.
The Comelec central office also ordered the suspension of the canvassing to pave the way for the special elections last Saturday at a polling precinct in Maitum town, he said.
A failure of election was earlier declared in clustered precinct number 03 at the Malalag Central Elementary School in Barangay Malalag, Maitum as the official ballots that arrived were meant for a precinct in Marinduque province.
The proclaimed winners were all candidates under local political party People’s Champ Movement (PCM) led by incumbent Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon.
Based on the final and official tally released by Comelec-Sarangani, Solon garnered a total of 139,446 votes while his closest rival, Mohamad Aquia of the Liberal Party (LP) only got 27,554 votes.
Juan Domino of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) received 15,082 votes.
In the vice gubernatorial match, Solon’s running mate, outgoing board member Elmer de Peralta, posted 108,126 votes while Willie Dangane of the LP got 36,641 votes.
Elected as provincial board members were PCM stalwarts George Falgui, Cornelio Martiez Jr., Jess Bascuna and Rosemarie Sayo in the first district; and, Cyril John Yap, Hermie Galzote, Virgilio Tobias, Arman Guilli, Cesar Nallos and Abdulracman Pangolima in the second district.
In the race for the province’s lone congressional district seat, boxing icon and outgoing Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao’s younger brother, Rogelio, was proclaimed winner with 142,307 votes.
Independent candidate Elson Formoso received 13,938 votes while Megie Ramos-Orig of the NPC and Victor Mejia of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan got 6,306 and 2,731, respectively.
The PBOC proceeded with the younger Pacquiao’s proclamation after dismissing a motion for the suspension of his proclamation filed by rivals Orig and Formoso.
The motion stemmed from a pending disqualification case filed by Orig against Rogelio Pacquiao at the Comelec central office on April 26 due to residency questions.
In her petition, Orig claimed that Rogelio failed to comply with the one-year residency requirement in the province as of the election day on May 9.
Rogelio, who was born in Sarangani, is a former chair of Barangay Apopong here and represented the Liga ng mga Barangay at the city council.
He transferred his residence to Alabel town in Sarangani in September last year and vacated his elective posts here a month later in preparation for his congressional run.
In dismissing the motion, Kadatuan said they cannot act on the matter as it still pending with their central office.
“We have not yet received any order about the case as of this time,” he said. (MindaNews)