Rep. Art Yap at the close of canvassing past 8 p.m. on Tuesday was leading by more than 6,000 votes over his top opponent, former Cabinet secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr. in the hotly contested gubernatorial race.
Yap pooled 302,802 votes against Evasco’s 296,530 votes, marking a margin of 6,272 votes.
The results excluded results from three towns Tubigon, Panglao and Sagbayan.
This was due to technical problems with SD (secure data) cards of two precincts from Tubigon, one from Panglao and five from Sagbayan.
Provincial Comelec Supervisor Eddie Aba suspended the canvassing of votes on the second night after the election due to the pending arrival of the SD cards which were sent to their Cebu technical lab due to some defects.
In the vice gubernatorial race, Rep. Rene Relampagos was leading over Board Member Tomas Abapo, Jr. by 49,016 votes. He got 304,006 against Abapo’s 254,990 votes.
Gov. Edgar Chatto won in a landslide victory against former Mayor Dan Lim in the first congressional district with a margin of 65,978 votes. Chatto pooled 118,046 votes while Lim only garnered 52,068 (excluding results from Tubigon and Panlao).
Chatto was proclaimed last night.
During a brief press conference after his proclamation at the Capitol, Chatto, a staunch ally of Yap, told the media that their camp is “strongly questioning” the delayed reconfiguration of the SD cards.
He said “anything can happen.”
Chatto’s concern was echoed by Rep. Relampagos who had claimed that he was a victim of electoral fraud when he ran for third district congressman.
Meanwhile, reelectionist Rep. Erico Aumentado also scored a landslide victory in the second district (140,248) against Board Member Aga Avenido (82,716 votes). The results however were still bereft votes from Sagbayan town.
In the third congressional district where the results were complete in the 19 towns, Board Member Alexie Tutor won in the congressional race with 74,991 votes. She was proclaimed yesterday.
Other congressional bets Cheche Toribio got 65,954 votes, Vice Gov. Dionisio Balite, 42,877 votes while retired Judge Carlos Fernando garnered 41,958 votes.