COMELECMEMONo.

201657
Dated:17October2016
TO:LoyolaSchoolsStudentBody
FROM:AteneoCommissiononElections
RE: Electoral Protest of Mr. Jason Anchores, Candidate for 2 AB Chinese Studies
CourseRepresentative
Goodday!
At8:47PMofOctober11,2016,theCommissionreceivedaletterofprotestfromMr.Jason
Anchores,acandidateforcourserepresentativefor2ABChineseStudies,objectingtothe
outcome of the 2016 Elections specifically, the outcome of the election for course
representativeofhisyearandcourse.
Inhisprotest,hedetailshowwhenhefirstvotedusingtheAutomatedVotingSystem,he
foundthathisnamewasnotpresentasacandidateforcourserepresentativeforhisyearand
course. He then immediately informed COMELEC with regard to the issue, to which
COMELECrespondedbyinstructingallpollofficersinallpollstations toproceedwith
ManualVotingforallmembersofMr.Anchoressyearandcourse.Mr.Anchoresthenvoted
again, with a witness, an hour later. However, errors in the attending poll officers
instructions, instructions that Mr. Anchores obeyed, resulted in Mr. Anchoress manual
votingballottobeconsideredspoiledandthereforeinvalid.
Tonote,theCommissionwasunawareoftheerrorsofthepollofficersinstructionsatthe
time,andthequestionoftheballotsspoilagewasonlydecidedaftertheendoftheelection
periodforthatdayspecificallyduringthecountingprocess.
Duetotheaforementionedevents,theCommissionsincerelyextendsitsdeepestapologiesto
Mr. Anchores and his course mates that these errors occurred, and that we bear full
responsibilityfortheseoperationalfaults.Suchaseriesofdeficiencieswasunprecedented.
Inlinewiththese,theCommissionhasmetandexhaustedallremediesavailableforthe
situation.DuetothepowerandauthoritythatislimitedtotheCommissionasaninstitution,
theCommissionhasdeterminedthattheonlyremedytotheissueathandisbyproceeding
withSpecialElectionsasperArticleVISection2.3andallowingMr.Anchorestoparticipate
for the same position. The Commission is determined to avoid and prevent the future
occurrenceofanyofthesameerrorsbyproperprioritizationoftasksintheupcomingSpecial
Electionsandfutureelectoralprocesses.This,theCommissionisconstitutionallyempowered
todoso.
Soordered.

Sincerely,
(Sgd.)Ma.PatriceG.Gabito
ChiefCommissioner
CommissionerforCommunications

(Sgd.)WilbertJanR.Liao
CommissionerforLogistics

(Sgd.)SherwinJayDiez
CommissionerforSecretariat