Article 35p. 35

SPECIAL RULES OF PROCEDURE SUPPLEMENT TO THE RULES OF COURT

(a) Period for revision - The revision 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 RCs may take a fifteen-minute break in each

session. (n)

(b) Revision to continue even if a party representative is

absent or late - The revision of votes shall not be

delayed or postponed by reason of the absence or

tardiness of a party representative as long as the RC

Coordinator and one party representative are present.

The

Chairman

of

the

Tribunal

may

at

any

time

designate

another

Coordinator

if

the

regular

Coordinator fails for any reason to report. (n)

(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 alternative appears as a

substitute the revision shall nevertheless commence

the protestee shall be deemed to have waived right to

appear and to object to the ballots in the precinct or

precincts scheduled for revision on that particular day.

(n)

(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

revision 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 Tribunal and shall no longer be revised

it is understood that the parties waive their right to

revise the same and the RC Coordinator concerned

shall state such facts in the corresponding RC report.

(n)

Rule 42. Prohibited access - During the revision of votes

no person other than the Members of the Tribunal the

clerk of the Commission the RC Coordinator and the

members

of

the

RCs

the

parties

and

their

duly

authorized representatives shall have access to the

revision area. (n)

Rule 43. Conduct of the revision - The revision of votes

shall be done through the use of appropriate PCOS

machine or manually and visually as the Tribunal may

determine and according to the following procedures:

(a) The date and place of the revision and the number

of

the

RCs

shall

be

set

during

the

preliminary

conference. (n)

(b) The RCs shall convene at the appointed place and

on the appointed day. (n)

(c) The ballot boxes containing the ballots from the

protested precincts the data storage device used in

such precincts as well as the machine or any device

that

can

be

used

to

authenticate

or

assure

the

genuineness of the ballots shall be brought to the

venue of revision on the same day. (n)

(d)

The

different

RCs

shall

be

provided

with

an

adequate workspace with tables and chairs that would

enable them to perform the revision in an efficient and

transparent manner. (n)

(e) The RCs shall upon the request in writing of the

parties randomly pick the precinct that would be the

subject of the revision. (n)

(f) Before opening the ballot box the RCs shall note its

condition

as

well as that of the locks or locking

mechanism and record the condition in the revision

report From its observation the RCs must also make a

determination as to whether the integrity of the ballot

box has been preserved. (R40a)]

(g) The ballot box shall then be opened and the ballots

shall be taken out. The "valid" ballots shall first be

counted without regard to the votes obtained by the

parties. This will be followed by the counting of the torn

unused and stray ballots as classified at the polling

place. (n)

(h) The votes appearing in election returns copy for the

ballot box shall then be recorded in the minutes. (n)

(i) Prior the actual conduct of the revision of the votes

the RC must authenticate each and every ballot to

make sure that they were the same ballots that were

cast and fed to the PCOS machine during the elections.

The authentication shall be through the use of the

PCOS machine actually used during the elections in the

subject precinct or by another device certified by the

Commission on Elections (COMELEC) as one that can

perform

the

desired

authentication

requirement

through the use of bar code and ultra-violet ray code

detection mechanism. (n)

(j)

Only

when

the

RC

through

its

coordinator

determines that the integrity of the ballots has been

preserved will the revision proceed. (n)

(k) Upon such determination the RC shall then look at

the ballot and count the votes as

registered

in

each and every one of them for the contested position.

(n)

(I) In looking at the shades or marks used to register

votes the RC shall bear in mind that the will of the

voters reflected as votes in the ballots shall as much as

possible be given effect setting aside any technicalities.

Furthermore the votes thereon are presumed to have

been made by the voter and shall be considered as

such unless reasons exist that will justify their rejection.

However marks or shades which are less than 50% of

the oval shall not be considered as valid votes. Any issue

as to whether a certain mark or shade is within the

threshold shall be determined by feeding the ballot on

the PCOS machine and not by human determination.

(n)

(m) The rules on appreciation of ballots under Section

211

of

the

Omnibus

Election

Code

shall

apply

suppletorily when appropriate. (n)

(n) There shall be a tally sheet when conducting a

manual count of at least 5 copies plus additional copies

depending on the number of additional parties that will

be used for the tallying of the votes as they are counted

through the use of the tara or stick. (n)

(o) After all the ballots from one ballot box have been

counted the RC shall secure the contested ballots and

complete

the

revision

report

for

said

precinct.

Thereafter it shall proceed to revise the votes on the

ballots from the next precinct. (n)

(p) In case of multiple RCs the revision shall be done

simultaneously.

(q) In the event that the RC determines that the

integrity of the ballots box was not preserved as when

there is proof of tampering or substitution it shall

proceed to instruct the printing of the picture image of

the ballots of the subject precinct stored in the data

storage device for the same precinct. The Tribunal may

avail itself of the assistance of the COMELEC for the

service of the service of a non-partisan technical person

who

shall

conduct

the

necessary

authentication

process to ensure that the data or images stored are

genuine and not merely substitutes. It is only upon

such determination that the printed picture image can

be used for the revision of votes. (n)

Rule 44. Preparation and submission of revision report.

- The RCs shall prepare and submit to the Tribunal a

revision report per precinct stating the following:

(a) The precinct number

(b) The date, place and time of revision

(c) The condition and serial numbers of the following:

(1) Ballot boxes

(2) Locks; and

(3) Data storage device

© Compiled By RGL

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