The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal has been ordered to file its comment on the petition assailing its decision to oust Northern Samar Rep. Harlin Abayon.
In an en banc resolution, the SC asked HRET to answer the petition filed by Abayon questioning the ruling that favored his rival in the 2013 polls, former House Deputy Speaker Raul Daza.
The tribunal also ordered Daza, who was named respondent by Abayon in the consolidated petition, to comment on the case.
“The Court… required respondents to submit their Comment on the Consolidate petitions and the prayers for TRO within a non-extendible period of 5 days from receipt of notice,” read the order.
In a petition for certiorari and prohibition last March 9, Abayon stressed that there was grave abuse of discretion on the part of the HRET majority members who voted for his ouster upon electoral protest by Daza.
Abayon said the HRET has committed an error in granting Daza’s protest because the evidence per the records of the case did not support its findings and conclusions.
Petitioner also argued that the HRET has no jurisdiction to cause the annulment of the result of the election for the Member of the House of Representatives in the clustered precinct numbers 9 (Barangay Chansvilla), 10 (Barangay Datag), 19 (Barangay Salvacion), 25 (Barangay Toog) and 14 (Barangay Lungib) in Victoria, Northern Samar because it falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Comelec en banc.
Abayon further alleged that the annulment, which is tantamount to failure of elections, was a “massive disenfranchisement of votes” considering that Daza did not present any substantial proof that the alleged terroristic acts are extensive in character which cause the impossibility of differentiating the valid votes from the invalid ones.
According to him, this was the main point in the dissenting opinion of HRET member and SC Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta.
Peralta held that Daza’s evidence is utterly weak, unclear and unconvincing and that the same is not enough to cause the annulment of the election result.
The dissenting HRET member further stressed that there was no accurate manner on how the tribunal will segregate the valid and invalid ballots. He said that the best way to determine the veracity of Daza’s protest was to open the ballot boxes and not to annul the election results.
Another HRET member, Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmy de Jesus, joined Peralta’s dissent in this case.
Records showed that Abayon was declared winner with a lead of 124 votes over Daza after the revision or recount of the ballots.