COMELEC junks election protest filed by Connie Dy vs. Mayor Tony Calixto

The election protest filed by defeated mayoral candidate and former congresswoman Consuelo “Connie” Dy against Pasay City Mayor Antonino “Tony” Calixto was dismissed by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for lack of merit.

In a 13-page Order issued by the COMELEC’s 2nd Division chaired by Presiding Commissioner Lucenito N. Tagle, the COMELEC said “All told, the Protestant [Connie Dy] was not able to prove the merit or legitimacy of her election protest from her pinpointed pilot clustered precincts.”

In the Order dated April 20, 2012, the COMELEC said that the recount they conducted showed that there were no irregularities in the counting and canvassing of the votes in the contested 74 clustered precincts and that Protestant Connie Dy failed to prove that the PCOS machines were defective.

Acting on the election protest filed by Dy, the COMELEC created seven (7) recount committees to hold a recount on the 74 clustered precincts identified by the protestant. The results of the recount, however, only resulted in a gain of nine (9) votes for protestant Dy while Calixto’s votes remained the same.

Calixto defeated Dy in the May 2010 elections with a total of 59,087 votes against his opponent’s 56,576 votes.

The COMELEC said that it even in the best scenarios for Protestant Dy, it would still be mathematically impossible for Dy to overcome Calixto’s lead. “Hence, there is no cogent reason for the Commission to proceed with the recount of the rest of her protested precincts,” the COMELEC added.

Mayor Calixto expressed his thanks to the COMELEC for upholding the will of Pasay’s voters.

“There was never any doubt among the people of Pasay that the truth triumphs in the end. Thus, I thank the Lord and the people of Pasay for always supporting me from day one,” the mayor said.

The COMELEC decision was the second political victory for Calixto in less than month. Last month, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the graft charges filed against him for allegedly anomalous garbage contracts. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales similarly dismissed the charges for lack of merit.

Among other grounds, the Ombudsman case was dismissed for failure of the complainant to challenge or refute the claim of respondents former Mayor Peewee Trinidad and Calixto that it was Connie Dy who threatened spouses Generoso and Antonia Cuneta with a reopening of their criminal case for malversation if they would not testify against their fellow public officials. Thus, the Ombudsman doubted the credibility of the would-be whistleblowers.

“With both the COMELEC and Ombudsman cases dismissed, we can now focus our energies in improving the lives of the people and delivering fast and efficient public service to all our constituents. We were elected not to engage in politicking but to serve,” he said.

The COMELEC also dismissed Dy’s claim that there were identifying marks on the ballots and ruled that no convincing evidence was presented to substantiate her claim.

The COMELEC similarly dismissed her allegation that the ballots were defective due to the absence of the BEI Chairman’s signature. The poll body ruled that the Supreme Court has already settled that the absence of any of the signatures of the BEI members in the ballot does not penalize the voter with disenfranchisement, thereby frustrating the will of the people.