Cortes’ election protest vs Ouano junked

Local

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division has dismissed the election protest filed by former Mandaue City mayor Jonas Cortes against incumbent Mayor Thadeo Jovito “Jonkie” Ouano, ruling that the petition failed to meet mandatory requirements on form and content under election rules.

In an order dated Jan. 29, 2026, the First Division said Cortes did not comply with Section 7(g), Rule 6 of Comelec Resolution No. 8804, as amended, which requires election protests to clearly and specifically detail the acts or omissions that allegedly constitute electoral fraud, anomalies, or irregularities in the protested precincts.

Cortes filed the protest on May 23, 2025, seeking a manual recount and revision of physical ballots and a technical examination of election documents in all 271 clustered precincts in Mandaue City.

He alleged widespread irregularities during voting, counting, and transmission of election results.

Among the claims raised were alleged discrepancies between the number of valid ballots cast and the number of voters who actually voted, including instances where valid votes reportedly exceeded the number of registered voters.

The protest also cited alleged issues involving automated counting machines, such as ballot rejections, machine malfunctions, undervotes and overvotes, and concerns over voters’ receipts or the voter’s verifiable paper audit trail.

Following the filing of the protest, the Comelec issued summons to Ouano and precautionary protection orders covering election records and documents.

Ouano later filed a verified answer with special and affirmative defenses, arguing that the protest should be dismissed for being insufficient in form and substance and for failing to show how Cortes could overturn Ouano’s margin of victory.

After hearings on the special and affirmative defenses and the submission of memoranda by both parties, the First Division ruled that the protest lacked the specific factual allegations required by the rules.

The Comelec said the claims were largely general and failed to demonstrate that electoral fraud or irregularities occurred in all the protested precincts.

The poll body also noted that many of the incidents cited involved technical issues that may arise in automated elections and are addressed by existing Comelec procedures.

It said these do not automatically amount to electoral fraud nor justify a recount or revision of ballots.

For failing to comply with the mandatory requirements of Section 7(g), Rule 6 of Comelec Resolution No. 8804, the election protest was summarily dismissed.

The ruling was signed by Presiding Commissioner Aimee P. Ferolino and concurred in by Commissioners Ernesto Ferdinand P. Maceda Jr. and Maria Norina S. Tangaro-Casingal.(MyTVCebu)