Facts:

• Romeo Guanzon and Augusto Villarosa were registered candidates for the office of vice mayor of Bacolod City in the general elections held on November 10, 1959.
• Guanzon was proclaimed elected with a plurality of 516 votes over Villarosa.
• Villarosa filed a protest before the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental, which rejected 586 ballots cast in several precincts on the ground that they were cast against the law.
• Of these ballots, 469 were cast in favor of Guanzon, 67 were cast for another candidate, 5 were cast for Villarosa, and 45 were left blank.
• The court dismissed the protest, as even after deducting the rejected ballots, Guanzon still had a majority of 47 votes over Villarosa.

Issue:

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Ruling:

• The disputed ballots should not be inv...(Unlock)

Ratio:

• The circumstance that several voters belonging to the same precinct have written the names of particular candidates in an identical manner may indicate a preconceived plan on their part to enable them to identify the voters.
• However, the showing of such circumstances based on what is written on the ballots alone cannot justify such inference in the absence of evidence aliunde clearly showing that such was the plan or intention.
• An identification mark cannot be presumed but must be established by clear evidence.
• In this...continue reading