ABRA

Following allegations of fraud:Comelec orders canvass to determine Abra town mayor
BY DEXTER A SEE

TINEG, Abra – The second division of the Commission on Elections has ordered the resumption of the centralized canvassing of election returns of three contested precincts in this remote town following allegations of fraud and intimidation by a candidate.

The election returns were the subject of a petition flied by a mayoralty candidate right after the May 14 elections.

Incumbent Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo was said to be the likely winner in the closely contested mayoralty race pitting him against Lenin Binwaren, who contested the election returns from precincts 10-A, 12-A and 13-A.

The Comelec dismissed the petition of Binwaren for lack of merit and ordered the municipal board of canvassers of Tineg to proceed with the canvassing of the votes and proclaim the winning candidates in the town.

In the results of the canvassing before the filing of the protest by the Binwaren Camp, Crisologo maintained a slight lead over Binwaren, but the exact numbers of votes obtained by the two politicians have yet to be known.

In his petition, Binwaren alleged that the election results from the contested precincts are “spurious, manufacture, and not authentic.”

He added voters suffered great intimidation by supporters of Crisologo during the balloting.

Furthermore, he alleged the contested precincts have a total number of 313 controversial votes which, he said, will significantly affect the result of the election.

But the Comelec ruled the allegations of Binwaren are not supported by evidence, except the petition and the affidavit executed by supposed witnesses.

The Comelec asserted that there is existing jurisprudence that had been upheld by the Supreme Court on such cases.

The high court’s ruling declared that a petitioner “must present proof before the board of canvassers and on appeal to the Comelec, and must have specific evidence that would reasonably support his allegation.

Without such proof, the canvassing of votes should proceed and the objected election returns are counted and the winning candidate is proclaimed.

When Clarence Binwaren, the mayor of Tineg, was assassinated in a church in Calauan, Laguna in 2003, Crisologo took over the mayorship of the town after a closely contested race in the 2004 elections.



Wanted man ‘salvaged,’ thrown into Abra river

BUCAY, Abra -- A wanted man, believed to have been a victim of a summary execution was found dead with multiple bullet wounds along a river here early Tuesday afternoon.

Police named the fatality as Prudencio Agaid Talingdan, 38, married, a resident of La Paz, Abra.

Records showed the victim had a standing warrant of arrest issued by Judge Charito Gonzales of Bangued’s Regional Trial Court Branch 1 docketed under Criminal Case No. 1106.

Bucay town police said they were called to respond to a report about a cadaver being found along the Abra River, particularly in Pagala, Bucay, Abra at around 1 p.m. on July 10.

Residents in the area said the ‘salvage’ victim was seen sprawled along the river bank with multiple gunshot wounds in his body around 12:30 p.m. on June 12.

Residents reportedly told police they did not notice any unusual incident that transpired within their vicinity or in nearby places which resulted to the killing of the victim. Recovered by policemen at the crime scene was a deformed bullet of still unknown caliber.

Police were still investigating the incident at press time.