Mayoralty bet sees win after vote count discrepancy

MAASIM, Sarangani (May 20, 2010) – Art Lawa of theSARRO/Lakas-Kampi-CMD party could win the mayoralty race in Maasim based on certified true copy of election returns.

Because of this, Lawa filed a petition to the Office of the Clerk ofthe Commission (Comelec) in Intramuros, Manila, on May 17 for thecorrection of the result of the canvassing.

Copy of the statement of votes requested by Lawa from the Commissionon Election Central Office showed an erroneous number of voters (9voters) compared to the election return printed by the PCOS machine(616 voters) which caused the miscounting.

According to election officer Teresita Lucero, clustered precinct 21in barangay Kablacan could have transmitted an erroneous result andmay have read the wrong data on the CF card (Compact Flash), suspectedto be the mock election result conducted earlier with only 9respondents or sample voters.

But based on the certified true copy of the election returns, Lawa got 136 votes against Zamorro who has only 62 votes at clustered precinctand PCOS ID number 8004021 in barangay Kablacan.

Said copy of the election return showed the clustered precinct has atotal of 800 registered voters, 616 of which actually voted.

The certified true copy of the election returns reverses the result ofthe canvass and favors Lawa.Likewise, the PPCRV result of the mayoralty race in the said town alsoshowed Lawa winning against Zamorro.

Lawa garnered a total vote of5,440 while Zamorro had 5,392.“But for sure there is no human intervention of the result. There canonly be an error in the reading of the CF from the PCOS machine,”Lucero said.

Zamorro was proclaimed by the municipal board of canvassers on May 11as leading with only 15 votes.

On the certificate of canvass submitted by the municipal board of canvassers, Lawa has a total vote of 5,306while Jose Zamorro has 5,321 total votes.

“There is no need for a recount but only a correction of the municipal canvassing,” Lawa said over a radio interview.“When the municipal canvassing will be corrected, I’m sure it willshow I win,” Lawa said. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)