BATANGAS Capitol – AS the Provincial Board of Canvassers proclaimed the winning candidates for all the positions in the province of Batangas, Board Member-elect Emilio Berebrabe Jr. [Doc Jun] emerges as the incoming Senior Board Member of Batangas.
Based on the data gathered from the Provincial Certificate of Canvass, Doc Jun gathered the highest number of votes both in proportion to the number of registered voters in his district at 75.63%, and in proportion to the number of voters who actually voted for the position at 63.86%.
Based on the Certificates of Votes obtained by BNN, Doc Jun garnered a total of 145,778 votes from Batangas City’s 228,263 registered voters. He got a total of 49.23% of the votes of the 192,750 voters who actually voted on May 12 Mid-Term Elections.
Coming second is reelectionist Board Member Aries Emmanuel ‘Bibong Mendoza of Lipa City who got 66.67% of the votes in proportion to the registered number of voters in Lipa City Lone District.
Here is the complete ranking of the winning board members in the just concluded election: Berberrabe, Mendoza, Junjun Gozos, Hamilton Blanco, Alfredo Corona, Reina Abu-Reyes, Marcus Mendoza, Dok Ana Rosales Santos, Jently Rivera, Melvin Vidal, Rodolfo Balba and Armie Bausas.
Doc Jun has served as Vice Mayor of Batangas for three consecutive terms.
The ranking of the elected board members is very crucial to the succession of public officials when vacancies occur in the office of the Governor and Vice Governor. When the office of the provincial governor is vacated, the vice governor succeeds leaving the position of the vice governor. When such vacancy occurs at the office of the vice governor, the Senior Board Member is the rightful official to succeed and fill-up the position.
Section 44 (par. 2) of the Local Governor Code provides that “for purposes of succession… ranking in the sanggunian shall be determined on the basis of the proportion of votes obtained by each winning candidate to the total number of registered voters in each district in the immediately preceding local election.
Meanwhile, in the case of Pascual v. Pascual-Bautista, 207 SCRA 561 [1992], the Supreme Court clarified that “the law is clear that the ranking in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan shall be determined on the basis of the proportion of the votes obtained by each winning candidate on (sic) the total number of registered voters who actually voted.
Batangas City made it again!
Berberabe would be 2nd official in a row from Batangas City Lone District to have been elected as the Senior Board Member.
In 2022 elections, the outgoing Board Member Ma. Claudette Ambida-Alday emerged as the Senior Board Member. In this election, Ambida emerged as the number 1 councilor-elect of Batangas City.| – Joenald Medina Rayos
