INTEGRITY OF VOTE-COUNTING MACHINES QUESTIONED

ROSALES Vice Mayor John Isaac Kho promised to fight what he called an “unfair and baseless” decision of the Regional Trial Court that voided his proclamation and installed his opponent, former Vice Mayor Susan Casareno, as the duly elected official.

Kho, 33, faced the media on December 1 to denounce the November 28 ruling of RTC Judge Roselyn Andrada Borja, which nullified his proclamation and declared Casareno the winner with 20,705 votes against his 18,730—reversing the official results of the May 12, 2025 elections, where Kho originally won by 1,208 votes.

The RTC decision came after five months of hearings involving ballot revision, recount, and re-appreciation. Casareno’s protest accused Kho of benefiting from alleged fraud, massive vote-buying, malfunctioning automated counting machines, and tampered ballots.

Kho dismissed these allegations as “fiction,” saying he had no resources to engage in vote-buying and stressing that it was only in Rosales where VCM allegedly misreads votes in the 2025 polls. He argued that questions surrounding machine accuracy should be addressed by the COMELEC central office, not used to overturn a valid mandate.

He noted that if the machines misread his votes, they could have misread the votes of all candidates “from the national level down to the last councilor,” making the issue far broader than his own contest. He earlier filed a Motion for Decryption of Ballot Images, which the RTC denied on August 22.

On December 1, Casareno’s counsel, Atty. Rafael Martinez, moved for the execution of judgment pending appeal. Kho’s counsel, Atty. Seth Lorenzo Samson, filed a separate opposition. Kho said that if his motion is denied, he will pursue all remedies available by law, including appealing to the Supreme Court.

Kho has already filed a notice of appeal before the RTC, asserting the ruling was contrary to law and jurisprudence. Simultaneously, he sought relief from the COMELEC First Division through a petition for certiorari, accusing Judge Borja of grave abuse of discretion—a reiteration of his earlier plea for a TRO filed on September 29.

“I will fight for the truth,” Kho said, vowing to defend the mandate he believes was rightfully given by the people of Rosales. (Leonardo Micua)