BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
I have not seen one.
This was the reaction of acting Provincial Comelec supervisor Roberto Salazar on claims that fake vote counting machines were allegedly used during the votes counting during the May 9 elections in Bacolod City.
“Those are mere allegations, and they have to prove that,” Salazar said.
Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday indicated that Grupo Progreso is considering legal action on the “mysterious and unbelievable” results of the May 9 local elections.
Former Third District Rep. Alfredo Benitez was already proclaimed by the Comelec as the duly elected mayor of Bacolod City after defeating Leonardia in the mayoralty race.
“We stand by the results of the elections,” Salazar said, adding that “we have been doing this in five elections.”
Benitez, who attended the proclamation of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer (4th district), Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (6th district), Rep. Gerardo Valmayor (1st district)and board members of Negros Occidental at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan session hall, said it is the prerogative of his opponent to file a complaint.
“The truth hurts,” he said.
In a statement, Atty. Bong Dilag,spokesperson of Mayor-elect Benitez, said that the allegations of Mayor Leonardia are a “stretch of imagination, old tired lines- ridiculous, and a comic, that even an ordinary mind will consider as totally hogwash, and therefore, undeserving of serious consideration, time and space.”
As to the claims that election results to be “mysterious and unbelievable”, Dilag said “this is not a mystery. This is the will of the people.”*
