LEGAZPI CITY – The Supreme Court, voting 15-0, has nullified the ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declaring former City Councilor Michael V. Imperial winner in the May 2004 mayoral elections in Legazpi City.

        Atty. Oliver Olaybal, one of the lawyers of Mayor Noel E. Rosal, yesterday said that the High Tribunal had voided the Comelec en banc decision because the protestee (Rosal) was denied by the poll body his constitutional right to due process.

        The protestant (Imperial) claimed that he was cheated during the election while the protestee claimed that he was cheated after the elections.

        In making the decision, the Comelec based only its findings of alleged fake ballots inside the contested ballot boxes.

        According to Olaybal, Rosal was ready to present the 110 public school teachers who had served as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) during the 2004 elections but the Comelec refused.

        These teachers had executed an affidavit denying Imperial’s allegations that there was massive cheating during the last elections in Legazpi City. The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) had also denied Imperial’s allegations.

        It will be recalled that the Comelec en banc affirmed on May 30, 2006 the decision of the Comelec Second Division declaring Imperial winner in the mayoral race in Legazpi City.

        The poll body had ruled that Imperial had won the mayoral elections with a margin of 2,168 votes by getting 33,861 votes against Rosal’s 31,673 votes.

        But Rosal cried foul because he was proclaimed winner by the City Board of Canvassers after garnering 44,792 votes against Imperial’s 33,747 votes or a wide margin of 11,045 votes.

        Rosal claimed that the genuine ballots had been changed with fake ballots inside the ballot boxes while they were stored in the City Treasurer’s Office.

        The Supreme Court had also ordered the Comelec to hear the poll protest anew by allowing both sides to present their evidence. But the case would become moot and academic if it is overtaken by the May 14, 2007 elections, Olaybal said.