Monday, July 26, 2004 PA welcomes protests filed by FPJ, Loren By Jennifer M. Depakakibo
PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER for Western Visayas Rene Villa welcomed the protest filed by defeated opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. and his running mate Loren Legarda Friday.
Poe and Legarda filed their protests before the Supreme Court (SC), which acts as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).
"This is a democratic country. They are free to do whatever they want to do," Villa told Sun.Star Iloilo. "It is good they are not doing their protest in the streets. At least, they are doing it under the law."
Poe and Legarda included the election returns from Iloilo in separate election protests they filed, questioning the results of the May 10 presidential and vice presidential elections.
Malacañang welcomed the election protest "in the interest of fair play."
In a 28-page petition, Poe (Ronald Allan Poe in real life), who ran under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) banner, contested the results of the canvassing by Congress, which turned down the opposition's requests to examine election results (ERs) from more than 118,339 precincts throughout the country.
Their lawyers said part of the cheating was undertaken by administration supporters by reflecting correctly "precincts results in the election returns but erroneously transposed through wholesale dagdag bawas (vote padding shaving) to subsequent election documents canvassed by Congress."
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