G.R. No. 190526 - SANDRA Y. ERIGUEL, VS. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS AND MA. THERESA DUMPIT-MICHELENA.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, the COMELEC is hereby ordered to re-raffle and assign the case to one (1) of its divisions, and to issue an order that an additional member be appointed to the assigned division should it later on be determined that the required quorum still could not be attained. Since the custody of the ballot boxes has already been transferred to the COMELEC, the COMELEC division to which the case shall be assigned must, prior to proceeding with a fresh appreciation of the ballots, determine whether the ballot boxes for the Municipality of Agoo sufficiently retained their integrity as to justify the conclusion that the ballots contained therein could be relied on as better evidence than the election returns. The COMELEC division shall also determine which ballot boxes in the said municipality were in such a condition as would afford reasonable opportunity for unauthorized persons to gain unlawful access to their contents. Should it be found that there are such ballot boxes, the ballots contained therein shall be held to have lost all probative value and should not be used to set aside the official count in the election returns, following our ruling in Rosal. [28] We likewise remind the COMELEC to be more prudent and circumspect in resolving election protests by following the proper procedure, whether in the exercise of its original or appellate jurisdiction, in order not to frustrate the true will of the electorate. Otherwise, the very foundation of our democratic processes may just as well be easily and expediently compromised. WHEREFORE , the instant petition is GRANTED . The Resolution dated December 9, 2009 of the Commission on Elections en banc in EAC No. A-01-2008 is hereby declared NULL and VOID . The Commission on Elections is hereby DIRECTED to re-raffle and assign the case to one (1) of its divisions, and to proceed with the resolution of the case with utmost dispatch. To this end, it shall: (1) identify which of the ballot boxes were otherwise preserved with such substantial compliance with statutory safety measures as to preclude reasonable opportunity for tampering with their contents. The ballots from these precincts shall be deemed to have retained their integrity in the absence of evidence to the contrary and the Commission on Elections may consider them in the recount; and (2) ascertain which of the ballot boxes were found in such a condition as would afford reasonable opportunity for unauthorized persons to gain unlawful access to their contents. The Commission on Elections shall exclude from the recount the ballots from these boxes and shall rely instead on the official count as stated in the election returns. The status quo ante orders issued by this Court on December 28, 2009 and January 4, 2010 are hereby MAINTAINED . SO ORDERED.