A former number one Bago City councilor yesterday said he is filing complaints against an election officer for grave abuse of power and discretion, and neglect of responsibility, for dropping his nickname from the ballot in the May 13 elections, saying that this caused his defeat.

John Alexander Matti, who ran for councilor under the United Negros Alliance team of Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., said he is known by residents of Bago as “Jack”.

Matti said when he filed his certificate of candidacy for councilor on Oct. 12, 2012, in front of Bago elections officer Katrina Trinio, he wrote his full name and nickname totaling 22 characters in an area that stated it must not exceed 30 characters.

On February 2 or 3, he said, he received a notice from Trinio to go to her office for final correction and verification of his name to appear on the official ballot, and he discovered that his nickname was not listed.

Trinio told him she took the liberty, or decided to delete his nickname, and it was too late to make a correction because the ballot had been printed, he said.

Matti said he wrote the COMELEC Law Department head, Esmeralda Ladra, on February 5, pleading that his nickname “Jack” be placed on the ballot as people do not know him as John Alexander.

He asked that his name on the official ballot be Matti, Jack and not Matti, John Alexander, or he would lose, he said.

Matti claimed that, because no change was made, he lost, and he is filing complaints against Trinio for this.

Yesterday, Trinio said Matti should not blame her as it was the COMELEC Law Department that opted to drop the name “Jack” and had the authority to make changes.

Trinio also pointed out that the COC he had filed stated that the candidate was to put his last name, first name OR nickname, but Matti placed both.*CPG

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