By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said they were not negligent in reminding voters not to overvote in the recently-concluded mid-term elections.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez made this remark reacting to an online report claiming there were at least 1,170,331 ballots with overvotes for the Senator position.
He explained that these votes were nullified as vote counting machines (VCMs) are configured not to count them.
“If it’s true that there are over a million overvotes, then it’s a million votes not counted. Haven’t we said again and again, if you overvote, it will not be counted. I would not say wasted. I would say forfeited,” Jimenez said in an interview.
In Monday’s polls, a voter should only vote for 12 candidates.
But, Jimenez said they have no data on the report that there were more than 1 million overvotes that were recorded in last Monday’s polls.
“We don’t have such data yet. But we will look into what their source documents are,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jimenez noted that disqualification cases pending before the poll body will be resolved.
He said that such cases will not be automatically deemed as moot and academic even if the elections are over.
Among the petitions that have been filed before the poll body are to deny due course and/or nullify Certificates of Candidacy against former Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and his wife, Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, who ran for congressmen of the First and Second Districts of the said City, respectively.
The petition against the former Senator has been junked by the Second Division but petitioner Leonides Buac Jr. has elevated the case to the Comelec en banc after filing a motion of reconsideration.
As for the case against the Taguig City mayor, the said Division has yet to issue a ruling.
The couple won in the positions they are seeking in the recently-concluded polls.
For the latest update (s) about the story, visit the Philippine News Agency website
