AT least 109 registered voters of Barangay Tambac in Dagupan City who were excluded from the list of voters following a court decision will not be disenfranchised in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections after all.

Regional Trial Court Judge Emma Torio of Branch 41 has reversed the September 13, 2010 decision of the Municipal Trial Court Judge Junius Dalaten in her decision dated September 24, 2010.

The case stemmed from the petition of one Celestino Barrozo claiming that Anselmo Garcia Agas and 108 other respondents have not established residency in Barangay Tambac Melag for at least six months, a perquisite for voting privileges.

The court-a-quo granted the petition and ordered the exclusion of the respondents from the list of voters.

The respondents, through their lawyer Jose Netu Tamayo, appealed the decision before the RTC, claiming that the decision of the court-a-quo is “contrary to law and facts”.

In deciding favorably for the appeal, Torio found that the respondents-appellants were included in the list of registered voters in the different precincts in Barangay Tambac, namely Precinct No. 0399A, 39; Precinct No. 0398B,18; Precinct 0399A, 45; and Precinct No. 0400A, 46.

Citing Sec. 143 (Common rules governing judicial proceedings in the matter of inclusion, exclusion, and correction of names of voters, letter d; and Section 32, letter c, the judge ruled that it is clear that the petition involved four precincts.

PROCEDURAL LAPSE

Interpreting the decision, City Election Officer Remarque Ravanza said there could be procedural lapse in the filing of the petition.

Ravanzo admitted there are similar petition for exclusion from the voters involving several voters in Mayombo, 200, Salisay, 38, Pogo Chico, 46; Herrero-Perez, 300; Barangay 1, 200; Barangay IV, 200; and Lomboy, 19.

However, these other cases have been filed in three separate branches of MCTCs and the decisions are still pending.–LM

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