G.R. No. 26243 , March 31, 1927
JOSE GEUKEKO, petitioner-appellant, vs. ANDRES PASCUAL, respondent-appellant.

FACTS

In the June 2, 1925 elections for Governor of Rizal, Andres Pascual was proclaimed the winner by the Provincial Board of Canvassers with a plurality of 229 votes over Jose Geukeko. Geukeko filed an election protest with the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Rizal. After a revision of ballots, the CFI credited Pascual with 13,196 votes, giving him a plurality of 20 votes over Geukeko, and dismissed the protest. Both parties appealed to the Supreme Court.

ISSUE

1. Whether the trial court erred in its appreciation of ballots, specifically in rejecting ballots claimed by Geukeko and admitting ballots claimed by Pascual.
2. Whether the trial court erred in not upholding the original election returns from precincts where ballot boxes showed evidence of tampering.

RULING

The Supreme Court AFFIRMED the CFI’s judgment, declaring Andres Pascual the legally elected Governor.

1. On the Appreciation of Ballots:
* The Court clarified the rule for identifying candidates on ballots. For parties to the contest (protestant/protestee), both the Christian name and surname must appear to identify the vote. However, for votes cast for other candidates (not parties to the contest), this strict rule does not apply. A ballot is invalid under the law (Sec. 452, Admin. Code as amended) only if it conclusively shows a vote for a person not a registered candidate for that office. Merely writing a surname or Christian name that matches a registered candidate is not automatically invalid.
* Applying this and established rules from *Cailles vs. Gomez*, the Court found:
* Geukeko was entitled to 443 more votes than the CFI allowed.
* Pascual was entitled to 481 more votes from his claimed ballots than the CFI allowed.

2. On Tampered Ballot Boxes:
* The Court found Pascual’s claims (Assignments of Error I-VIII) regarding tampering in several precincts to be well-taken. The evidence was conclusive that the ballot boxes had been violated after the original canvass.
* Following settled doctrine, when ballot boxes are tampered with, the original count as shown in the election returns must prevail. Based on the original returns from these precincts, Pascual gained an additional 122 votes.

3. On Mutual Claims of Invalid Votes (Assignments II & X):
* The Court found the assertions in the briefs regarding invalid votes credited to the opponent to be largely inaccurate and unsupported. A review showed that very few of the attacked votes were doubtful, and their elimination would not change the result but would instead increase Pascual’s lead.

SUMMARY OF VOTE RECOMPUTATION:
After review, Pascual’s total valid votes exceeded Geukeko’s by at least 180 votes. Therefore, the Supreme Court upheld the CFI’s dismissal of the protest and declared Andres Pascual the duly elected Governor. Costs were imposed on protestant-appellant Geukeko.