Comelec sets recount in Pampanga capital
Vilma Balle-Caluag and Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab—CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has set Feb. 2 as the start of the manual recount of votes cast for two mayoral candidates in this Pampanga capital in the May 12, 2025 elections.
In a six-page order dated Jan. 26 and obtained by the Inquirer on Friday, the Comelec First Division directed the Judicial Records Section to secure the ballots from the 48 pilot protested precincts cited by Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab. These represent 20 percent of the 239 clustered precincts in San Fernando.
A former provincial board member and mayor of Lubao town, Pineda-Cayabyab contested the victory of Vilma Balle-Caluag in her reelection bid. Balle-Caluag’s slate, which included Vice Mayor Brenz Gonzales and 10 councilors, reportedly posted a 12-straight win, which some critics have described as “statistically improbable.”
Balle-Caluag did not reply when asked for comment on Friday. She had earlier argued that her opponent’s case was “insufficient” in both form and content.
‘Securely stored’
According to the latest order, the ballots have been “securely stored” at the poll body’s office in Intramuros, Manila.
The same order, signed by Presiding Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, set the recount schedule from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily until all ballots are recounted by the five committees created by the Division.
The Division ordered the recount after finding Pineda-Cayabyab’s election protest to be “sufficient in form and content in accordance with Section 7, Rule 6 of Comelec Resolution No. 8804.”
The Dec. 23, 2025 order was signed by Ferolino and Commissioners Ernesto Maceda Jr. and Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal.
In the Dec. 23 order, the Division said Pineda-Cayabyab attached to her protest judicial affidavits from registered voters and watchers, which specified “how the election fraud and irregularities were committed in the contested clustered precincts.”
It added: “Since the affidavits appended to the petition are all sworn and notarized, these carry significant probative value with strong evidentiary weight to support the factual allegations regarding occurrences at the precinct level.”
The Division also directed Pineda-Cayabyab to make a cash deposit of P617,000 to defray recount expenses.
Pineda-Cayabyab formally filed the election protest on May 22 last year, disputing the official results of the May 2025 mayoral race. She cited alleged irregularities and inconsistencies in the vote counting process. Official tally showed Balle-Caluag with 127,124 votes, more than double Pineda-Cayabyab’s 49,061, prompting the former mayor to seek a recount in selected precincts.
