By Immanuel Pastolero, Special to The Manila Times

The Second Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaimed former Tourism Secretary Roberto “Obet” Pagdanganan as the duly elected governor of Bulacan and ordered Joselito “Jon-Jon” Mendoza to vacate his office in the provincial capitol.
“This is a historical vindication not jut for my family, but for the people of Bulacan,” Pagdanganan said as a reaction to the resolution.

Comelec has ordered the proclamation of Pagdanganan after a highly disputed recount which revealed that he had garnered a total of 342, 295 votes against Mendoza’s 337, 974 votes for a margin of 4, 321 votes.

The recount disproves the 2007 election results, which showed that Mendoza defeated other candidates with 364, 566 votes.

The resolution signed by Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph also ordered Mendoza to cease and desist from discharging the functions of governor in the province. The Interior department headed by Secretary Ronaldo Puno is ordered by the Comelec to implement the resolution.
Mendoza, brother of former Gov. Josie de la Cruz of Bulacan, has been in the provincial capitol since 2007.

The decision would leave Pagadanganan with only five months in office. But Pagdanganan said that he could do many things in the remaining five months of his term as governor.

The recount was ordered after Pagdanganan filed an election protest in June 2007. He claimed that he was cheated by Mendoza and that some of the ballots were “doctored.”

Meanwhile, Comelec has said that the decision is not yet final and executory allowing Mendoza to appeal the decision.