MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has dismissed three electoral protests involving local positions in the May 2025 midterm polls, the poll body announced.

The First Division of Comelec said protests for Cebu governor, Dumaguete City mayor, and Catanduanes governorwere denied.

The protest filed by Gwendolyn Garcia against Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro was dismissed for being “insufficient in form and content.” Alleged issues such as repeated automated counting machine (ACM) rejections, paper jams, and defective markers were considered technical incidents under contingency procedures and did not justify a recount, the division said. Garcia’s petition cited electoral fraud through electronic means, vote padding, ACM malfunctions, and unusually high undervotes/overvotes across 4,120 clustered precincts.

Similarly, the election protest of Felipe Claudio Remollo against Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria was dismissed for failure to comply with mandatory form and content requirements. Remollo identified only one clustered precinct and submitted a single witness affidavit, despite contesting all precincts in the city. Comelec noted it had already addressed alleged discrepancies in registered voters versus ballots cast.

The commission also junked the protest of Peter “Bosste” Cua against Catanduanes Governor Patrick Alain Azanzaas “moot and academic” because Cua had been disqualified as a candidate for governor. “This En Banc resolution has since become final and executory. With the disqualification, Protestant Cua lost his locus standi, rendering the controversy moot and academic,” Comelec said.

(PNA)