The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc Thursday affirmed its earlier decision declaring Roberto “Obet” Pagdanganan as the duly elected governor of Bulacan and not Joselito “Jonjon” Mendoza.

The en banc in its five-page resolution decided to honor the initial ruling of the Second Division after they failed anew to achieve the required majority votes of four.

“The matter was deliberated on by the Commission en banc and the seven members maintained their respective stands (3 votes concurring-1 vote dissenting-3 votes no part) on the resolution of the Second Division dated Dec. 1, 2009. Hence, pursuant to Section 6, Rule 18, Comelec Rules of Procedure, the latter is deemed affirmed,” read the resolution which was issued March 4, 2010.

With the ruling, the Comelec immediately ordered the issuance of a Writ of Execution directing the provincial election supervisor of Bulacan to implement the resolution.

“The Commission is ordering Joselito Mendoza to cease and desist from performing the functions of the governor of the province of Bulacan and to vacate the said office in favor of Roberto Pagdanganan,” said the resolution read.

Last month, the Comelec en banc already ruled that Pagdanganan was the true winner of the 2007 gubernatorial race in Bulacan but decided to schedule a re-hearing after failing to achieve the required majority votes.

Under Comelec rules, a re-hearing is required in cases of impasse in a bid to see if the members of the en banc would change their minds and if the voting of the members of the en banc remain the same, the ruling of the division will be honored.

The decision showed that members of the Second Division (Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph) voted to grant the win to Pagdanganan while Commissioner Rene Sarmiento was the lone dissenter.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo and First Division members Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal and Armando Velasco maintained their previous decisions to take no part in the ruling.

Based on Comelec’s count, Pagdanganan actually beat Mendoza by a total of 4,321 votes during the 2007 polls. The Comelec Second Division ruled that Pagdanganan had indeed obtained a total of 342,295 votes as against Mendoza’s 337,974 votes.