COMELEC en banc affirms decision in favor of Samar recall election

By GINA DEAN-RAGUDO, Samar News.com
August 10, 2011

CALBAYOG CITY  –  By a vote of 5-2, majority members of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc affirmed Minute Resolution No. 11-0038 (dated January 21, 2011) and issued a resolution on August 5, 2011 finding petition for recall sufficient against the incumbent Samar governor and vice-governor, respectively.

Due to loss of confidence to the provincial government, petitions were filed five (5) months after Governor Sharee Ann Tan- Delos Santos and Vice Governor Stephen James Tan assumed into office.

Denying the Joint Motion for Reconsideration filed by the movants, the Commission only recognizes Section 70(b) (1) and (2) as the only criteria in determining the sufficiency of the form of the subject recall petitions.

Under such law, it enumerates the formal requirements needed in a petition -- a written petition for recall duly signed by the representative of the petitioners before the election registrar or his representative, and the contents of the petition such as the names and addresses of the petitioners written in legible form and their signatures; the barangay, city or municipality, local legislative district and the province to which the petitioners belong; the name of the official sought to be recalled; and a brief narration of the reasons and justifications therefore.

The Commission also noted that a certification of Samar’s registered voting population from the National Statistics Office is no longer necessary considering that the number of supporting petitioners already satisfies, and in fact, exceeds the percentage requirement.

As of year 2000, Samar’s registered voting population has reached over 328 thousand which is above the voting population bracket.

It also revealed that more than 73 thousand voters have supported the petition to recall the present administration.

The Commission believes that “utmost liberality in the interpretation of the recall statutes must be appropriately applied where the will of the people is the supreme law”.

COMELEC Chair Sixto Brillantes, Jr., as well as Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento, Armando C. Velasco, Christian Robert S. Lim, and Augusto C. Lagman resolved the petition in favor of sufficiency as petitioners shown that they have exercised earnest and diligent efforts to comply with the requirements of Resolution No. 7505 (pertinent data from the NSO and DILG), albeit the intricacies encountered which was beyond their control.

The petitions for recall were filed by Aurelio A. Bardaje and Elvisa Aranzado Lopez last December 10, 2010.

Section 3 of Resolution No. 7505 says that such petition may be filed anytime after the assumption to office of official sought to be recalled, provided that the recall election should be conducted not earlier than one (1) year from the date of the official’s assumption to office or one (1) year immediately preceding a regular local election.