Pampanga gubernatorial bet questions poll results, seeks manual count
The camp of Pampanga gubernatorial bet Danilo Baylon files an election protest before the Commission on Elections on Friday, May 23, 2025. (Photo by Atty. Ernesto Francisco)
MANILA, Philippines — Pampanga gubernatorial candidate Danilo Baylon is seeking to contest the 2025 midterm election results, claiming there were irregularities.
Atty. Ernesto Franciso, legal counsel of Baylon who filed the election protest before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday, said that Baylon’s camp wants to have a manual recount of votes and question the proclamation of Lilia Pineda.
Based on official and final results, Pineda won the gubernatorial race with 709,694 votes while Baylon ranked second with 476,642 votes.
Francisco said that the automated elections system did not perform well as the election results did not match with the pre-election surveys conducted in the province.
READ: Pre-shaded ballots? Overvotes? File an election protest – Comelec
“We believe that if the elections have been clean and the automated election system has really performed, we believe that Danilo Baylon would have won. This is based on pre-election surveys that were repeatedly conducted. That’s why we were very surprised with the outcome of the elections,” Francisco said in an interview.
Further, Francisco said that Baylon’s camp casts doubts on the automated counting machines (ACMs) as he claimed to have affidavits of the ACMs malfunctioning.
“If you look at the affidavit that we submitted, these are supposedly very new machines. But why is it that there were repeated malfunctioning, all kinds of malfunctioning. We were surprised when we gathered testimonies of witnesses that many of them witnessed malfunctioning of the machines,” Francisco noted.
READ: Comelec gets 1st poll protest; it’s from a losing bet in San Fernando City
Francisco also mentioned that they are contesting all precincts in the province for the manual recount.
When asked why a manual recount is significant for the protest, Francisco said that “the province of the Pampanga should be the test case if the automated election system that was recently introduced really worked.”
Meanwhile, Pineda’s daughter, San Fernando City mayoral candidate Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab, was the first to file an election protest before the Comelec for the 2025 midterm elections last Thursday. Pineda-Cayabyab lost to incumbent Mayor Vilma Caluag by 78,063 votes.
Appeal to Comelec chief
Francisco called on Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia to inhibit himself from any election matter concerning the Pampanga province as he said that the latter was a long-time lawyer of the Pineda family.
Garcia was Pineda’s lawyer when she asked for a recount for the gubernatorial race in 2007.
When asked to comment on the appeal, Garcia said that there is no need for the appeal to be asked.
“I always recuse/inhibit myself from any case of which I have previous professional relationships with a party/ies,” Garcia told INQUIRER.net in a Viber message.
“Moreover, an election protest is lodged in a division which the [Chairman] is not participating,” Garcia added. /jpv
