The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has dismissed the election protest of a candidate who lost to Gov. Lilia Pineda in the 2025 elections, after ruling out a manual recount of votes.
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO— The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has dismissed the election protest of a candidate who lost to Gov. Lilia Pineda in the 2025 elections, after ruling out a manual recount of votes.
In a nine-page order dated July 28, the First Division of the Comelec dismissed the election protest of Danilo Baylon for “failing to comply with the mandatory form and content requirements of Section 7 (g) Rule 6 of Comelec Resolution No. 8804 as amended.”
It also dismissed the counter-protest filed by Pineda, 77, who returned as governor after winning the May 12, 2025 midterm polls. She earlier served two terms as vice governor.
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Pineda’s son Dennis first beat Baylon in the governor’s race in 2022.
Baylon had claimed electoral fraud in 1,705 out of 1,817 clustered precincts. “Such allegations, however, without factual substantiation, are considered scattershot amounting to mere speculation,” says the poll body’s First Division consisting of presiding chair Aimee Ferolino and Commissioners Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr. and Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal.
The Comelec said a “scrutiny of the judicial affidavits likewise shows that the alleged electoral fraud, anomalies or irregularities stated therein, particularly those involving technical issues such as malfunctioning of Automated Counting Machines, delays in the transmission of results, rejected ballots, and similar incidents are merely technical incidents and do not necessarily constitute election fraud, anomalies, [or] irregularities.”
Pineda on Thursday said she had not allowed the case to distract or disrupt her.
“I campaigned properly, and had been truthful. Why would I need to cheat when I was confident many voters appreciate my years of service,” she said by telephone./coa
