Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia called the recent decision by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to dismiss with finality the electoral protest lodged by former Mayor Monico Puentevella, “expected.”

In a press conference yesterday morning, Leonardia said his camp already knew the end result.

“We understand, since it was political, this was ‘face-saving’ in order to keep the hopes of their own people alive,” Leonardia added.

The Comelec Electoral Contests Adjudication Department (ECAD) issued a certificate, signed on October 27 by ECAD director Allen Francis Abaya, supporting the Comelec decision to dismiss the former mayor’s appeal, citing it on “ insufficiency in form and content.”

Copies of the Comelec certificate of finality were also forwarded to President Rodrigo Duterte, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Commission on Audit (COA), and the Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).

Leonardia won the May 2016 elections with a total of 120,231 votes against Puentevella’s 97,993./DGB, WDJ