PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, (PNA) — The Commission on Elections has finally ordered the recount of questionable ballots in the vice mayoralty race in this city last May 2013 following former councilor Mark David Hagedorn’s protest against Vice Mayor Luis Marcaida III.
The order for recount involves disputed ballots coming from 38 priority clustered precincts in Puerto Princesa, a statement sent by Hagedorn Friday told the Philippines News Agency (PNA).
In filing his protest, Hagedorn said there are about 7,500 ballots that were not counted but were received by the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines during the May 2013 elections for the vice mayoralty race.
These ballots are what he wants recounted since he does not know what happened to them. The recounting of the ballots, he said, will start on October 1 on the third floor of the Comelec Building.
Included in the order is the establishment of the Recount Committee that shall be responsible in overseeing that the process is implemented correctly.
This is composed of representatives from Hagedorn and Marcaida III’s camps.
Hagedorn’s camp is positive too, that the Comelec recount will give clarification to doubts that there were PCOS machines last May that failed to work; and that the recount will side with him considering Marcaida III’s win by a small margin.
As of press time, the ballots have been transported to the Comelec in Manila.