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Mayor Varias vs. Commission on Elections (COMELEC)

MAYOR VIRGILIO P. VARIAS, Petitioner, versus COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and JOSE "JOY" D. PENANO, Respondents

G.R. No. 189078 | 2010-02-11

D E C I S I O N

BRION, J.:

Rosal v. Commission on Elections[1] (Rosal) instructively tells us how to appreciate revision of ballot results as against election returns in an electoral contest, as follows:

(1) The ballots cannot be used to overturn the official count as reflected in the election returns unless it is first shown affirmatively that the ballots have been preserved with a care which precludes the opportunity of tampering and all suspicion of change, abstraction or substitution;

(2) The burden of proving that the integrity of the ballots has been preserved in such a manner is on the protestant;

(3) Where a mode of preserving the...