Comelec to seize contested ballot boxes in Taguig mayoralty race

A division of the Commission on Elections has upheld its order to retrieve the contested ballot boxes in the 2010 Taguig mayoralty race between Taguig Mayor Laarni Cayetano and former Supreme Court Justice Dante Tinga. In a four-page order dated March 30, the Comelec second division denied Cayetano's motion to block the poll body's earlier decision to take custody of the 373 contested ballot boxes housed at the Taguig City Hall. "The Commission finds protestee's (Cayetano) motion for reconsideration to be bereft of merit as it did not raise new issues that would warrant the reversal or revision of the second division's January 25, 2011 order," it said. The Comelec likewise denied Cayetano's urgent motion for the ocular inspection of the Taguig City Hall Auditorium, which the mayor reportedly thinks is a more secure storage facility than the Comelec Philpost Warehouse. "Granting [for the sake of argument] that Taguig City Hall's auditorium is sufficiently secured, said venue affords no neutral ground as the activities performed or carried out therein are practically controlled by protestee (Cayetano)," said the poll body. Mayor Cayetano is the wife of Senate Minority Floor Leader Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. The poll body has directed election and barangay affairs department director Atty. Teopisto Elnas to collect the contested ballot boxes and deliver them to the Comelec warehouse within three days from receipt from the city treasurer. "(The Comelec) directs Atty. Marianito D. Miranda, acting treasurer of Taguig City to turn over to Atty. Elnas the 373 contested ballot boxes immediately upon demand," it said. Elnas has also been authorized to secure a sufficient number of security personnel from the Philippine National Police or the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the collection and transportation of the ballot boxes. According to the Comelec, there should be no legal impediment in carrying out their orders because the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) has already granted them temporary custody of the ballot boxes. — LBG, GMA News