Mangaoang is Kalinga Rep; protest looms over governor- elect win by 10-votes

By Jesse Maguiya 

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang retained his seat as congressional representative of Kalinga while Ferdinand B. Tubban won as governor during the May 13 elections.

Mangaoang won by a large margin over his rival – outgoing governor Jocel Baac.

Tubban is outgoing mayor of Tabuk City.

An election protest is reportedly in the offing in here after a neck and neck match between the two gubernatorial bets that boiled down to a 10-vote difference in favor of Tubban, who has since been proclaimed governor-elect.

 His primary opponent, Vice Gov. James Edduba, was said to be leading earlier on but was narrowly overtaken by Tubban.

The transmittal of election results from certain towns were also delayed, according to reports.

 In an interview Thursday evening, Edduba confirmed that his camp is preparing to file an election protest that would demand a recount in some areas.

“I was telling them (supporters and volunteers) to just let go as I am already very tired but the volunteers are insisting because they also want to know what happened,” he said.

Edduba noted that volunteers were demanding an explanation about 25 missing ballots and the delayed transmittal of results from Sucbot in Pinukpuk, which supposedly changed the outcome of the elections.

“The lawyers are the ones in charge. They are doing what needs to be done,” he said.

Kalinga provincial election officer, lawyer Ricardo Lampac, in a separate interview said the delay of the result and the transmission from Sucbot was due to problems related to the vote counting machine (VCM), prompting the change to a substitute machine.

 He said they initially thought that it was merely a problem with the memory card but it turned out to be a defect in the VCM itself. 

The difficulty of the terrain located on mountains, rains, and the absence of internet signal have prevented the transmission of results from the highland municipalities of Kalinga evening of May 13.

“Some of the vote counting machines (VCMs) will have to be carried with people manually transporting them to the municipal town halls or where the signal reaches the villages,” lawyer Ricardo Lampac, Kalinga provincial election supervisor said on Monday evening.

As of 9 p.m. that day, the provincial electoral board of canvassers has not convened.

Before midnight, only a few of the precincts from lowland towns have transmitted the results.

At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Lampac said the towns of Lubuagan, Pasil, Rizal, and Tanudan have fully transmitted results to the provincial electoral board in Tabuk City.

“Medyo nahirapan ang mga presinto kasi yung iba walang signal, yung iba naman kailangan pa lumakad sa lugar kung saan may signal at hindi madaling gawin lalo at parang bagyo ang ulan kahapon hanggang kagabi (it is quite difficult because some of the [voting] precincts do not have signals while the other areas have to be walked and hiked to reach the places where there is signal which was difficult especially with the typhoon-like rains that was experienced on Monday afternoon until evening),” Lampac said.

Due to the rains and the slippery terrain, an accident occurred and killed one of the three persons who went to Barangay Mangali in Tanudan to cast their votes.

Lampac said there were few incidents that affected the conduct of the elections in Kalinga.

He said one incident was in Balangayon, Pinukpuk town where the voting was delayed for about two hours after the arrival of the VCM was stalled.

He said security personnel first scoured the area for safety before Comelec personnel finally decided to transport the VCMs and arrived at the village almost 8 a.m.

Lampac also said there were 20 VCMs that malfunctioned or had corrupted SD cards. He said they hope to finish the provincial canvassing by Wednesday. -- PNA