Case of mayoral bets puzzles Comelec

BY DEXTER A SEE

BAGUIO CITY – The Commission on Elections regional office here is in a quandary over a question of whether votes for the mayoralty position with only the surname “Bautista” would be credited to Acting City Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista or to former councilor Virgilio F. Bautista.

Comelec Resolution No. 3743, the edict on the issue, states if there are two or more candidates with the same full name or surname, and one of them is the incumbent, and on the ballot is written only such full name, first name or surname, the votes are to be counted in favor of the incumbent.

Lawyer Armando Velasco, Cordillera director of the Comelec, said it is a gray area in the case at hand, noting that the incumbent mayor of this mountain resort city is still Mayor Braulio Yaranon because he is just suspended for a period of one year in connection with charges for grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority and oppression.

He said suspension does not remove one as a mayor or from an elected position.

Yaranon, who won in the 2004 elections, was suspended by the Office of the President on June 26, 2006 for a period of one year.

Vice Mayor Bautista assumed Yaranon’s post and formally took his oath on Aug. 30, 2006.

Velasco said it is a matter of interpretation of the Comelec resolution, but he is still not sure if the officer-in-charge is considered an incumbent official.

If acting mayor Bautista is not declared as the incumbent mayor by the Comelec, both of the Bautistas running of the same position would not be credited with the votes cast by voters who simply write “Bautista” in the ballots.

Former councilor Virgilio Bautista said that it is up to the Comelec to decide, but as far as he is concerned, the rule favoring the incumbent does not apply to the case.

Velasco also clarified the Comelec’s stand on another mayoralty candidate, Felipe Ramos, who has been consistently filing his candidacy for the mayor in Baguio.

He noted nobody has filed a disqualification petition against Ramos because no one of the mayoralty bets cares or dares to file such petition.

Only qualified mayoralty bets can file a petition to declare Ramos a nuisance candidate, he said.