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Saturday, June 30, 2007
Pimentel lead narrows after Maguindanao canvass
MANILA -- Opposition candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III's lead over administration bet Juan Miguel Zubiri for the 12th Senate seat was narrowed down to 4,293 votes after the canvassing of Maguindanao votes.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as National Board of Canvassers (NBoC), counted the controversial Maguindanao Certificate of Canvass (COC) on Friday, despite protests from Pimentel's camp.
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As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, Pimentel was still occupying the 12th place with 10,973,562 votes. He got 67,111 votes from Maguindanao.
Zubiri, on the other hand, now has 10,969,269 votes after getting 195,823 votes from the province.
Of the 212,795 registered voters in Maguindanao, only 198,912 voters cast their votes in the last elections.
Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra said they could not proclaim yet the 12th winner in the Senate race because there are still uncanvassed votes from Shariff Kabunsuan, Bogo in Cebu, Bais in Negros Oriental, and 38 precincts from Pagalungan town also in Maguindanao.
He hoped that they would tally votes from the four areas on Monday.
Despite objection from lawyers of the Genuine Opposition (GO), the Comelec still proceeded with the canvassing of votes from Maguindanao.
Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. denied the appeal of Pimentel's lawyer, Lilia de Lima, to exclude the Maguindanao COC and asked the opposition to instead file its motion and manifestation with the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Pimentel, in an interview, said they had expected Comelec not to suspend the tabulation of votes from Maguindanao.
"We witnessed the railroading to launder the election results," he said.
Pimentel criticized the Comelec for allegedly abusing its discretion in canvassing the Maguindanao COC. He said they would question before the Supreme Court the election body's repeated denial of their motion during the canvassing. (MSN/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (June 30, 2007 issue)
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