Monday, May 28, 2007 7-3-2 in Davao City By Grace L. Plata
IT IS 7-3-2 in favor of the Genuine Opposition in Davao's recount results released Sunday morning by the Davao City board of canvassers headed by lawyer Irma Vera Morcillo of the Commission on Elections.
The recount was ordered last Tuesday by Comelec Commissioner Romeo Brawner after the results that placed Senator Ralph Recto in the fourth spot was questioned by both administration and opposition camps.
According to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, lawyers from the camp of Senator Joker Arroyo discovered the discrepancies in the figures and called him up to consult with Comelec regarding the matter.
"Arroyo called me up and asked me to consult with Comelec kasi hindi nagta-tally ang mga figures. I sent the lawyers of Hugpong to look into the problem with Comelec," Duterte said in a press conference Thursday.
But according to Morcillo, as the board convened with representatives from both Team Unity and Genuine Opposition, the board discovered its own error. She said whoever discovered the error first is not the issue.
"What is important here is what we did and what we are doing to rectify the mistake," Morcillo said.
Based on the recent rectified results, topping the race with 268,350 votes is GO senatoriable and outgoing Sorsogon representative Francis "Chiz" Escudero followed by come-backing senator Loren Legarda with 252,381 votes and Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is seeking reeleciton, with 246,354.
Coming in fourth replacing Recto is outgoing Tarlac representative Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III with 246,121 votes, followed by Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel IV with 217,854, Gregorio Honasan with 209,266 votes, Juan Miguel Zubiri with 201,129, Manuel Villar with 200,819, Alan Peter Cayetano with 191,373, Joker Arroyo with 176,133, and Edgardo Angara with 173,412.
Antonio Trillanes who was among the top 12 in the first tally placed 13th while Recto placed 14th with 143,558 votes.
GO laywer Glocelito Jayma moved for the cancellation of the former tally so that the rectified figures will be declared as the "official result."
Jayma also moved that the minutes of Saturday's session be sent as attachment to the corrected results, which will be sent to the national board of canvassers in Manila. This is so that the national board would understand how the errors came to be, lessening chances of misinformation and doubt.
The city board, however, also discovered other errors but these were not as significant as the one concerning Recto.
