Article 116p. 116

OMNIBUS ELECTION CODE ELECTION LAWS, RULES AND PROCEDURES

subpoena duces tecum may be issued by the Division

motu proprio, or upon request of the parties in any case.

Section 2. Form and Contents. — A subpoena shall

be signed by the Clerk of the Commission concerned. It

shall state the name of the Division issuing it and the title

of the action; it shall be directed to the person whose

attendance is required, and in the case of a subpoena

duces

tecum,

it

shall

also

contain

a

reasonable

description of the books, documents or things demanded

which may appear prima facie relevant.

Rule 15 Recount of Ballots

Section 1. Start of recount. — The recount of ballots

shall commence on the date specified in the preliminary

conference order, unless rescheduled by Order of the

Division.

Section

2.

Recount

committee;

under

the

supervision

of

the

Commission.

—

There

shall

be

constituted such number of recount committees as may

be necessary. The list of the recount committees shall be

submitted by the Division Clerk of the Commission,

through the Director IV, Electoral Contests Adjudication

Department, to the Presiding Commissioner of either the

First or Second Division. Each recount committee shall be

composed of a Recount Coordinator/Chairman who shall

be a lawyer of the Commission, recorder, clerk, typist and

ballot box custodian and one representative each from

the protestant and the protestee. The Commission shall

designate the Recount Coordinators/ Chairman from

among its personnel. The parties shall also designate

their respective alternative representatives.

The recount committee shall conduct the recount in

the Commission's premises or at such other places as

may be designated by the Commission, but in every case

under its strict supervision. The members of the Recount

Committee shall discharge their duties with the highest

degree of integrity, conducting the proceedings with the

same dignity and discipline as if undertaken by the

Commission

itself.

They

shall

exercise

extraordinary

diligence and take precautionary measures to prevent

the loss, disappearance or impairment of the integrity of

the ballots and the other election documents, whether

electronic or printed, and other election paraphernalia.

Section 3. Compensation of the members of the

Recount Committee. — The Commission shall fix the

compensation

of

the

members

of

the

Committee

including the fees for supplies and materials, storage of

election paraphernalia, honoraria of warehouse ballot box

custodian, photocopying watchers and security details at

Three Thousand Pesos (P3,000.00) per precinct and shall

be distributed as follows:

Chairman

P1,000.00

Recorder

P500.00

Recount Ballot Box Custodian

P480.00

Supplies/Materials

P400.00

Storage

P85.00

The

over-all

Supervisor

shall

also

receive

an

honorarium of P100 for every ballot box opened and

recounted, but in no case shall he receive less than the

highest honorarium that maybe received by any of the

committee chairmen. Warehouse ballot box custodians

shall be allotted an honorarium of P50 for every ballot box

they will handle, which amount shall be shared among all

of them.

A portion of the said cash deposit shall be allotted

and set aside for the honoraria of the following support

staff for each ballot box as follows:

ECAD Security Personnel

4 x P35 = P140.00

COMELEC Drivers

2 x P35 = P70.00

Organic Security Personnel

2 x P35 = P70.00

PNP Personnel

2 x P35 = P70.00

Xerox Machine Watchers

1 x P35 = P35.00

The cost of decryption of the ballot images shall be

Five Hundred Pesos (P500.00) per compact flash (CF)

card. Said amount shall be allocated as follows: One

hundred

Pesos

(P100.00)

for

electricity;

Fifty

Pesos

(P50.00) for the use of computers and printers; and Three

Hundred Fifty Pesos (P350.00) for the honoraria of the

Election

Records

and

Statistics

Department

(ERSD)

representative/s.

All consumables for the decryption, generation and

printing of ballot images, such as toner and coupon

bonds shall be provided by the parties.

(as amended by COMELEC Resolution No. 9720)

Section

4.

Continuous

Recount.

—

Once

commenced, the recount shall continue from day to day

as far as practicable until terminated.

a) Period for Recount. — recount shall be conducted

from 8:30 o'clock in the morning to 12:00 noon and from

1:30 to 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon from Monday to

Friday, except on non-working holidays. The members of

the Recount Committee may take a fifteen-minute break

in each session.

b) Recount to continue even if a party representative

is absent or late. — The recount of ballots shall not be

delayed or postponed by reason of the absence or

tardiness of a party representative as long as the Recount

Coordinator and one party representative are present.

The Commission may at any time designate another

Recount Coordinator if the regular Recount Coordinator

fails for any reason to report.

c) If the representative of the protestee is absent or

late. — If the representative of the protestee is absent or

late for thirty minutes and no alternate appears as a

substitute, the recount shall, nevertheless, commence;

the protestee shall be deemed to have waived the right to

appear and to object to the ballots in the precinct or

precincts scheduled for recount on that particular day.

d)

If

the

representative

of

protestant

or

counter-protestant, or of both parties fail to appear. — If

the representative of the protestant, or of both parties

and alternates fail to appear for no justifiable reason

within one hour after fixed hours from the start of the

recount, the ballot boxes scheduled for that day, and the

corresponding keys in the possession of the chairperson,

shall be returned to the ballot box custodian of the

Commission and shall no longer be recounted; it is

understood that the parties waive their right to recount

the same, and the Recount Coordinator concerned shall

state such facts in the corresponding Recount report.

Section 5. Prohibited access. — During the recount

of ballots, no person other than the Commission, the clerk

of the Commission, the Recount Coordinators and the

members of the recount committees, the parties and

their duly authorized representatives, shall have access to

the recount area.

Section 6. Conduct of the Recount. — The recount of

the votes on the ballots shall be done manually and

visually and according to the procedures hereunder:

(a) At the preliminary conference, the date, place, the

mode of the recount of votes on the ballots from each of

© Compiled by RGL

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