Friday, May 25, 2007 Editorial: Mere clerical errors?
THE BOARD of Canvassers in Davao City has insisted that the vote-shaving that either increased or decreased the voters of 11, not just two, senatorial candidates was "mere clerical errors and nothing more." No vote-padding, no anomaly -- that is. In fact, lawyer Irma Vera Morcillo, the BOC chair, told newsmen that the board had reconvened to make the necessary corrections. Just like that.
We say good luck to Ms. Morcillo. She would be lucky indeed if all the affected senatoriables - and their lawyers- would gladly accept this rather nonchalant explanation and consider the case closed.
Right now, few Dabawenyos will believe the incident was a simple case of clerical errors and therefore not involved negligence or incompetence on the part of those charged with the duty of tabulating the results. Consider these:
* The discrepancies made Ralph Recto jump to rank No. 5 in the tally with a total of 145,412 votes, after the 84,236 votes of Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel were erroneously added to his. Pimentel's vote, though, did not decrease.
* In the case of Luis "Chavit" Singson, the total votes of Genuine Opposition candidate Sonia Roco were also added to Chavit's, making his total 20,600 votes when it should have only been 14,573. But like in the case of Pimentel, Roco's total was also entered twice - for Chavit 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.
* Independent senatorial candidate Francis Pangilinan had 1,200 more than his supposed votes, thus getting 78,280 instead of only 76,982.
* Another GO candidate, Francis Escudero lost 90 of 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 8 votes from 42,718 to 42,710.
Even administration candidates were not spared. Team Unity candidate Vicente "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 Cesar Montano lost 462 votes when only 35,961 votes was encoded instead of 36,423.
In fairness to Ms. Morcillo, it was her who immediately reported the incidents to Comelec Commissioner Romeo Brawner, who promptly ordered the BOC to reconvene and recount the votes.
Still, the BOC chair and members should be ready to be grilled by disbelieving candidates and their lawyers when they submit their official final tabulation to the central office.
