Resolution No. 9748

WHEREAS, Section 4 (e) of Resolution No. 9720 promulgated on June 20, 2013 entitled In the Matter of amending Rules 2, 6, 8, 13 and 15 of Comelec Resolution No. 8804 as amended by Comelec Resolution No. 9164 provides as follows:

"Section 4. Preliminary Conference Brief. - The parties shall file with the Commission and serve on the adverse party, in such manner as shall ensure their receipt at least one (1) day before the date of the preliminary conference, their respective briefs which shall contain the following:

e) The list of pilot protested or counter-protested precincts, which shall be not more than twenty percent (20%) of the total number of precincts, but in no case exceeding two hundred (200) or be less than twenty (20) precincts that will best illustrate the merits of the protest which shall be the subject to the initial recount of paper ballots, reading/appreciation of the rejected ballots and decryption and recount of the ballot images, if applicable.

The protestant may, however, waive the recount of the paper ballots and instead resort to either the decryption and recount of the ballots and instead resort to either the decryption and recount of the ballot images and reading/appreciation of the rejected ballots of the pilot protested or counter-protested precincts OR the reading/appreciation of the rejected ballots only of the entire protested or counter-protested precincts"

WHEREAS, in providing for the option of decryption and recount of the ballot images, the Commission has not removed the right of parties to have the printed ballot images be revised and thus subject to objections/comments/observations/claims of parties;

WHEREAS, the option of decryption and recount of the ballot images, when exercised, would result to the following:

Aids in the expeditious resolution of protest cases as mandated by law as the conduct of the revision proceedings would not be delayed by the needed delivery to the Commission of the ballot boxes either from the Office of the Treasurers or from the Electoral Tribunals, which has preferential rights over the custody of the ballot boxes, in cases where there are protest cases pending thereat involving the same ballot boxes subject of protest cases filed before this Commission;

Makes possible the simultaneous revision of the decrypted ballot images by the Commission and of the paper ballots by the Regional Trial Courts, where there are pending protest cases involving the same protested precincts, and thus prevent delays in the proceedings before the said lower court; and

Helps resolve the problem of storage of the voluminous number of ballot boxes from protested precincts as well as to allow parties to save expenses on the transport of the ballot boxes including the provision for their security from their point of origin to the Comelec Central Office in Manila.

NOW, THEREFORE, premises considered, the Commission En Banc hereby RESOLVES, to clarify aforementioned Section 4 (e) of Resolution No. 9720 by informing both protestant and protestee that if they availed of the option of decryption and printing of the ballot images, the same procedure in the revision of paper ballots will be observed whereby parties will be afforded the opportunity to object on the ballots, submit their comments/observations and make claims thereon as if the paper ballots are the ones being revised as well as to give them the opportunity to save on their expenses on the transport of the ballot boxes including the provisions for their security from their point of origin to the Comelec Central Office in Manila. Finally, said option would facilitate the expeditious resolution of election protest cases as mandated by law.

Let the Electoral Contests Adjudication Department implement this Resolution.

SO ORDERED.

Signed:

• BRILLANTES, SIXTO S., Jr., Chairman
• TAGLE, LUCENITO N., Commissioner
• YUSOPH, ELIAS R., Commissioner
• LIM, CHRISTIAN ROBERT S., Commissioner
• PADACA, MARIA GRACIA CIELO M., Commissioner
• PARREÑO, AL A., Commissioner
• GUIA, LUIE TITO F., Commissioner