Comelec exec ired by Bulacan gov's lawyer

By George Trillo

BULACAN-Tension ran high at the session hall of the Commission on Elections Thursday when a lawyer infuriated commissioners handling the electoral protest involving the gubernatorial seat of Bulacan.

Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, who presides over the Comelec’s Second Division, banged his gavel several times to stop lawyer Roque Bello, legal counsel of unseated Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza, from talking. In the process, the gavel’s head broke.

Last Dec. 1, the Comelec directed Mendoza to step down as it declared former governor Roberto Pagdanganan the winner in the 2007 elections.

The Second Division ruled that Pagdanganan obtained a winning margin of 4,321 votes over Mendoza when the ballots from the province underwent revision.

Records show that Pagdanganan got a total of 342,295 votes against Mendoza’s 337,974 votes after the recount.

Mendoza has filed a motion for reconsideration, while Pagdanganan has submitted a petition seeking the immediate release of a writ of execution to force the former to vacate his seat.

In Dec. 10 hearing , Bello, in a loud voice, questioned the Comelec process in hearing the petition for the writ of execution, prompting Ferrer to bang the gavel repeatedly to stop Bello from further arguing, until the gavel’s head broke. Ferrer then adjourned the hearing.