By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The poll protest filed against Talisay City Mayor Neil Lizares was dismissed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) first division, according to the camp of 2016 mayoral candidate Sheila Saratan.
In a press conference yesterday, former Talisay City Mayor Eric Saratan claimed, “The fight is not yet over.”
He explained the case was elevated to the Comelec en banc after one commissioner from the first division gave a dissenting opinion.
“We want everyone in Talisay to know that the case is still active,” he said.
Comelec First Division Presiding Commissioner Christian Robert Lim signed the order, while Commissioner Louie Tito Guia entered a dissenting opinion, while Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon inhibited herself from the case.
Since the decision was not made by a majority of the members in the first division,
Saratan counsel, Atty. Dante Behemente, noted the case will be elevated to the en banc, where all seven commissioners and the chairman will decide.
According to the dismissal order, Saratan failed to establish “reasonable recovery,” pointing out, “There is reasonable recovery when the protestant is able to recover at least 20 percent of the overall lead of the protestee.”
According to their data, Lizares led by 7,321, which means Saratan would need to recover 1,509 votes from stray, marked, and rejected ballots in order to establish reasonable recovery.
“It is mathematically impossible for the protest to overcome the protester’s lead,” the order stated.
However, in his dissenting opinion, Guia expressed, “We first need to rule on the party’s claims and objections on the votes from the pilot protested precincts.”
“Absent such ruling, we do not have any basis to make any conclusion on whether the protest was able to establish reasonable and substantial recovery,” he added.
Behemente believes they have a 91.9 percent chance of winning their poll protest./WDJ