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Wednesday, June 23, 2004
SC junks Pimentel suit against vote count
By Benjamin B. Pulta
MANILA -- The Supreme Court (SC) Tuesday dismissed a suit filed by opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. questioning the legality of the recently concluded joint Congressional committee canvassing the votes for president and vice president.
The SC voting 11 to 0 against the petition said while the legislative functions of the 12 Congress ended upon the final adjournment of its sessions last June 11, it does not affect its non-legislative functions, which is to canvass the votes.
The decision came two days after a congressional panel finished two weeks of tallying votes with a count showing Arroyo beat opposition candidate Fernando Poe by more than a million votes.
The panel is to make its final report Wednesday to a joint session of the House and Senate. Arroyo is expected to be officially declared winner of the May 10 vote on Thursday or Friday.
Malacaņang said it expected such a decision to come out on the matter while Senate President Franklin Drilon welcomed the ruling.
Pimentel earlier questioned the canvassing of votes for president and vice president by the joint committee after Congress adjourned sine die last June 11.
The SC's decision echoed the positions taken by the Office of the Solicitor General and the co-chairmen of the joint committee with regard the canvassing.
It was the second petition against the canvassing dismissed by the SC.
The High Court earlier rejected a suit filed by Davao Rep. Ruy Elias Lopez questioning the canvassing rules adopted by Congress, particularly the formation of a joint committee to do the tabulation, saying such a move was approved by the legislature in joint session.
Impediment
The SC said despite the adjournment sine die of Congress, there is no legal impediment to the joint committee in completing the tasks assigned to them and may reconvene without need of a call by the President to a special session.
"Since the 12th Congress has not yet completed its non-legislative duty to canvass the votes and proclaim the duly elected president and vice president, its existence as the National Board of Canvassers as well as that of the joint committee to which it referred the preliminary tasks of authenticating and canvassing the certificates of canvass, has not become functus officio," the SC ruled.
It noted that the joint public session of the Senate and House of Representatives to canvass the votes and proclaim the duly elected president and vice president cannot adjourn completely until it has accomplished its Constitutionally-mandated tasks.
"Its membership may change, but it retains its authority as a board until it has accomplished its purpose," it said.
The SC said in the 1998 Presidential elections, Congress adjourned sine die on May 25, 1998 but nobody questioned it.
Malacaņang Tuesday said it was not surprised when the SC decided against Pimentel's petition.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said although the decision is already moot as the joint committee already completed its canvassing, the ruling is still welcomed.
"The Supreme Court ruling more or less has been anticipated because we have had presidents as far as the conduct of the joint canvass is concerned. We've had the presidents of 1992 and 1998 plus the fact that the petition has been rendered moot and academic because of the completion of the work of the canvass committee," he said.
The canvass ended Sunday with Arroyo getting 12,905, 808 votes against Fernando Poe Jr.'s 11,782,232 votes or a margin of 1.2 million votes.
But Bunye said they still expect "the usual fireworks" from the opposition until the proclamation of the winner.
"That's part and parcel of the democratic system. The minority would be entitled to air their views during the plenary, they will be heard but in the end, there would be voting and we expect the majority to prevail," he added.
Pimentel said the minority legislators have no plans of walking out in the joint session Wednesday to discuss the joint committee report on the canvassing.
He assured the public that the opposition would not resort to encouraging people to hold street protests.
Earlier reports said that the opposition is allegedly planning to walk out during the plenary debate on the canvassing report to show their disagreement with the results of the canvassing.
Pimentel said the opposition would rather exhaust all legal channels in questioning the results of canvassing.
The committee report that would be discussed Wednesday shows President Arroyo and Sen. Noli de Castro as the duly-elected president and vice president, respectively.
Meanwhile, Drilon said, "with this decision (by the SC), I am certain that nothing can stop Congress now."
"The last constitutional barrier has been hurdled. Nothing is going to stop us now," Drilon added.
He said that the dismissal of the petition would certainly pave the way for Congress to perform its duty as a National Board of Canvassers.
Drilon expressed confidence that the proclamation of the winners would be done either on Thursday or Friday. With a report from JMR and JPM
(June 23, 2004 issue)
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