INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

Melo calls poll lawyer a ‘crybaby’

INQUIRER.net

Anna Valmero

MANILA, Philippines—Commission on Elections chairman Jose Melo called an election lawyer a “crybaby” for urging officials of the poll body to resign en masse over its ruling on an electoral protest.

Romulo Macalintal on Thursday said the election commissioners "failed to uphold the integrity" of the poll body after it ruled against his client, Camarines Norte Governor Jesus Typoco.

But Melo said Macalintal’s reaction to the Comelec ruling was “like that of a child.”

“He is like a crybaby,” Melo told INQUIRER.net.

Typoco was proclaimed winner in the May 2007 gubernatorial race, garnering 80,830 votes or a margin of 2,543 against his rival, Edgardo Tallado, who had 78,287 votes, said Macalintal.

But the Comelec en banc, acting on an electoral protest, has ruled that Tallado won by 65 votes and voided Typoco’s proclamation.

Macalintal said the certificate of canvass for Labo town in Camarines Norte "has manifest errors as it did not tally with corresponding statement of votes by precinct."

At the same time, he said a Statement of Votes by Precinct, or the summary of the votes obtained by candidates, was a "fake" based on the documents at the Comelec records and statistics division.

"I am inviting Chairman Melo and the en banc to go together to the Comelec records division and see the documents so we can prove if what I am saying is right or wrong,” he said.

“If what I say is wrong, I will surrender my license. But if I am right, they should resign—Chairman Melo and Commissioners Lucenito Tagle, Nicodemo Ferrer, Leonardo Leonida and Armando Velasco,” he said.

Macalintal, meanwhile, lauded Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who he said dissented the majority ruling and asked for a recount of the contested election results.

In a separate interview, Sarmiento said Typoco won based on the election results, although he said he was outnumbered in the voting.

"I think the law department should check this," Sarmiento said.

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