462 Phil. 383
AZCUNA, J.:
Grounds for the Protest
6. Protestant hereby impugns the correctness of the results reflected in the election returns in ALL the 453 protested precincts of the Municipality of Imus, Cavite on the following grounds:
7.1. | Votes in the ballots lawfully and validly cast in favor of protestant were deliberately misread and/or misappreciated by various chairmen of the different boards of election inspectors; | |
7.2. | Valid votes of protestant were intentionally or erroneously counted or tallied in the election returns as votes of protestee; | |
7.3. | Valid votes legally cast in favor of protestant were considered stray; | |
7.4. | Ballots containing valid votes for protestant were intentionally and erroneously misappreciated or considered as marked and declared as null and void; | |
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| 7.5. | Ballots with blank spaces in the line for Mayor were just read and counted in favor of protestee; |
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| 7.6. | Ballots prepared by persons other then the voters themselves, and fake or unofficial ballots wherein the name of protestee was written, were illegally read and counted in favor of protestee; |
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| 7.7. | Groups of ballots prepared by one (1) person and/or individual ballots prepared by two (2) persons were purposely considered as valid ballots and counted in favor of protestee; |
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| 7.8. | Votes that were void, because the ballots containing them were posted with stickers or because of pattern markings appearing in them or because of other frauds and election anomalies, were unlawfully read and counted in favor of protestee; and |
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| 7.9. | Votes reported in some election returns were unlawfully increased in favor of protestee, such that protestee appeared to have obtained more votes than those actually cast in his favor. |
7. The elections in the precincts of the Second District of Palawan were tainted with massive fraud, widespread vote-buying, intimidation and terrorism and other serious irregularities committed before, during and after the voting, and during the counting of votes and the preparation of election returns and certificates of canvass which affected the results of the election. Among the fraudulent acts committed were the massive vote-buying and intimidation of voters, disenfranchisement of petitioner's known supporters through systematic deletion of names from the list of voters, allowing persons to vote in excess of the number of registered voters, misappreciation, misreading and non-reading of protestant's ballots and other irregularities.The Court in that case dismissed the election protest, holding that the failure to make specific mention of the precincts where wide-spread election fraud and irregularities occurred, and the bare allegations of massive fraud, widespread intimidation and terrorism, without specification and substantiation of where and how these occurrences took place, render the protest fatally defective. As explained by the Court:
The prescription that the petition must be sufficient in form and substance means that the petition must be more than merely rhetorical. If the allegations contained therein are unsupported by even the faintest whisper of authority in fact and law, then there is no other course than to dismiss the petition, otherwise, the assumption of an elected official may, and always [will,] be held up by petitions of this sort by a losing candidate.However, the Comelec en banc, voting 4-3,[4] ruled that what is applicable to the case is the ruling in Miguel v. Comelec.[5] In the Miguel case, therein respondent Eladio Lapuz filed an election case against James Miguel who defeated the former in the mayoralty race in Rizal, Nueva Ecija. Lapuz questioned the results in all the precincts on the following grounds:
a) | Rampant switching of ballot boxes and stuffing of ballot boxes with fake ballots; | |
b) | Padding of votes in favor of petitioner; | |
c) | Misappreciation of ballots to the prejudice of private respondent; | |
d) | Counting of illegal and/or marked ballots and stray votes in favor of petitioner; | |
e) | Misreading and mis-tallying of ballots or votes; | |
f) | Massive vote-buying; | |
g) | Substitution of votes; | |
h) | Multiple voting by flying voters and harassment of voters; | |
i) | Massive disenfranchisement; | |
j) | Massive threats, coercion and intimidation of voters. |
Election contests involve public interest, and technicalities and procedural barriers should not be allowed to stand if they constitute an obstacle to the determination of the true will of the electorate in the choice of their elective officials. Laws governing election contests must be liberally construed to the end that the will of the people in the choice of public officials may not be defeated by mere technical objections. In an election case, the court has an imperative duty to ascertain by all means within its command who is the real candidate elected by the electorate. The Supreme Court frowns upon any interpretation of the law or the rules that would hinder in any way not only the free and intelligent casting of the votes in an election but also the correct ascertainment of the results.No doubt, allowing the election protest to proceed would be the best way of removing any doubt as to who was the real candidate chosen by the electorate. Barring the proceedings due to technicalities and procedures accomplishes nothing except possibly to suppress the will of the majority.