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Sunday, May 30, 2004
Cebuanos to defend poll results
By Karen M. Flores
CEBU -- Cebuano congressmen and other local officials are prepared to defend the authenticity and reliability of election documents from their areas in the face of allegations of fraud that the opposition may bring up in the national canvassing.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district) said he has asked Bando Osmeņa-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) to compose a team here to prepare certificates of canvass (COCs) and election returns (ERs) that they can present, if needed, to the 22-member Senate-House joint canvassing committee.
BO-PK's copies of these election documents will be used in case there are discrepancies in the copies that are presented to the committee, Cuenco said in an interview over radio dyLA Saturday.
For his part, Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama said he called up Ma. Victoria "Minnie" Osmeņa Friday night to be at the national canvassing because she was "very much involved" in the canvassing in the city.
Minnie is the sister of reelected Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeņa. Rama said BO-PK is "ready" for the national canvass where results from Cebu may be questioned because of the 1.185 million votes President Arroyo got.
Gov. Pablo Garcia earlier noted that no other province or region delivered as much for the President this year.
In the province, congressmen are taking a more laid-back stance but are prepared to defend results from their turf.
Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen had alleged during the deliberation on the rules of canvass last Thursday that there are discrepancies in the ERs and COCs from Alcantara, Malabuyoc, Ronda, Santa Fe, Carmen and Liloan towns.
In an interview, Rep. Ace Durano (5th district) said he has given data to Arroyo's lawyers in Manila, who will represent her in the national canvass, which they can use if the opposition presents evidence of cheating.
He said he has copies of all the election returns of all 10 towns and one city in the fifth district and that he has reported the results to the President.
Two of the six towns Dilangalen named are in the fifth district. However, Durano, a lawyer, said that under the law, the burden of proof "is with the person protesting the results of the election. This means he has to prove the cheating and not I who has to prove that there was none."
Rep. Simeon Kintanar (2nd district) is leaving the defense to Arroyo's lawyers but he assured that should there be entries in ERs and COCs from his area that need clarifying, he is ready to speak up.
In a phone interview, he said rules of the canvassing allow congressmen to air their "manifestations and observations" even if they are not committee members as long as it is their area of jurisdiction that is being taken up.
Three of the six towns Dilangalen listed are in the second district.
So far, Durano and Kintanar said no Cebuano congressman's name has come up yet as a possible member of the canvassing committee.
Durano explained that the membership in the joint committee is "based on chairmanships of relevant committees, like the committees on justice and constitutional amendments."
Durano is with the justice committee but sits only as vice chairman.
Both Houses of Congress have decided to create a joint Senate-House canvassing committee instead of having the two chambers sit in plenary sessions to canvass the votes cast for president and vice president.
The Senate will be given 11 seats to be filled by appointees of Senate President Franklin Drilon. Six of the seats will be given to the majority and five to the minority.
The Lower House will also get 11 seats to be filled by Speaker Jose de Venecia. Earlier, de Venecia said two or three seats will be given to the opposition, one to a party-list representative and the rest to the administration.
(May 30, 2004 issue)
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Ballot boxes ready for Monday's canvassing