Thursday, May 24, 2007
Votes 'shaved' from both TU, GO
By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Board of Canvassers (BOC) in Davao City insisted that the alleged vote-padding incident, which benefited some of the senatorial candidates of Team Unity (TU), was mere clerical errors and nothing more.
BOC chair Lawyer Irma Vera Morcillo said they have reconvened to make the necessary corrections and have in fact already made headway.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 Coverage
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A document obtained by Sun.Star Davao revealed that aside from TU senatorial candidates Ralph Recto and Luis "Chavit" Singson, there are nine more senatorial candidates whose votes have either increased or decreased.
Beneficiaries
Recto ranked 5th in the tally after the total votes of Genuine Opposition (GO) candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III reaching 84,236 was also added to his votes, thus giving him a total of 145,412. Pimentel's vote, however, was not shaved and was, likewise, credited to him; a case of double-entry.
In the case of Singson, GO candidate Sonia Roco's votes were also added to Singson, making his total reach 20,600 when it should have only been 14,573. Like the case of Pimentel, Roco's total was also entered twice -- for Singson and for herself.
Discrepancies were also found in GO candidate Antonio Trillanes IV's vote that was listed as 57,257 when it should have only been 48,257.
While independent senatorial candidate Francis Pangilinan had 1,200 more than his supposed votes, thus getting 78,280 instead of 76,982.
Losers
Meanwhile, another GO candidate, Francis Escudero lost 90 votes, when tabulators encoded 90,564 instead of 90,654. Manny Villar, a GO candidate, lost more than 1,000 votes when encoders entered only 68,286 instead of 69,468.
Aside from having his total added to Recto, Pimentel also lost 200 votes when only 84,036 votes were encoded instead of 84,236.
GO's John Osmeña lost eight votes from 42,718 to 42,710.
Even administration candidates were not spared.
TU candidate, Tito Sotto III, lost more than 400 votes as only 21,696 was encoded instead of 22,184. Another TU bet, Juan Miguel Zubiri, suffered a setback of more than 900 votes when only 66,234 was encoded instead of 67,207 votes. And actor turned senatorial bet for TU, Cesar Montano, lost 462 votes when only 35,961 votes was encoded instead of 36,423.
It was reported Wednesday that the BOC in the city was mandated by Commission on Elections commissioner Romeo Brawner to reconvene and recount the votes in the 1st congressional district of Davao City after he received reports of irregularity in the final tally vis-a-vis the unofficial count of Namfrel and other tabulating bodies.
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 24, 2007 issue)
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