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Saturday, January 19, 2008
Legarda's poll protest vs de Castro junked
MANILA -- For failure to sufficiently prove her claim of fraud, the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed and terminated on Friday the entire election protest filed by Senator Loren Legarda against Vice President Noli de Castro.
In a resolution penned by Senior Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, the tribunal dismissed for lack of legal and factual basis the first aspect of Legarda's protest involving the correction of manifest errors of the Certificates of Canvass and Election Returns from Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBC).
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Adopting the recommendation of Hearing Commissioner and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman, retired SC justice Bernardo Pardo, the SC said: "The pilot-tested revision of ballots or re-tabulation of the certificates of canvass would not affect the winning margin of the protestee in the final canvass of the returns, in addition to the ground of abandonment or withdrawal by reason of protestant's candidacy for election and assumption of the office of the Senator of the Philippines."
The second aspect of the petition concerning the revision of ballots in 124,404 precincts had been already dismissed on June 5, 2007 pursuant to Rule 33 of the PET for Legarda's failure to deposit the P3.9 million to continue the revision of ballots despite extension.
"To overcome the presumption of regularity, there must be evidence that is clear, convincing, and more than merely preponderant. Absent such convincing evidence, the presumption must be upheld," the tribunal ruled.
"The entire protest is now deemed dismissed and terminated," the PET said.
Legarda's lawyer Sixto Brillante said they have already expected the dismissal of the protest since she has already assumed office as a reelected senator.
"We just wanted to prove that fraud took place during the May 10, 2004 elections. We'll probably file a motion for reconsideration, but we want to see first the resolution of the SC," Brillante said.
Citing Defensor Santiago vs Ramos, the PET said Legarda effectively abandoned or withdrawn her protest when she ran in the Senate, which term coincides with the term of the vice presidency 2004-2010.
The PET said Legarda "had not adequately and convincingly rebutted the presumption that as public documents, the Congress-retrieved (election return) ER copies, used for the proclamation of the protestee (De Castro) by the NBC, are authentic and duly executed in the regular course of official business."
As such, Legarda failed to establish that the ER copies used by the NBC were spurious.
Legarda earlier identified the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur as pilot areas that best exemplify her grounds for the first aspect.
The PET noted that the records show that even Legarda's witnesses had testified that they were able to discern security features and markings in the Congress-retrieved ERs.
The PET further said there was no conclusive evidence to prove the alleged break-in in Congress, which allegedly facilitated the switching of ERs. It noted that one of Legarda's witnesses, House Deputy General for Legislative Operations Artemio Adasa, had even categorically denied that a break-in and a switching of ERs had occurred in Congress.
Furthermore, the PET said even assuming arguendo that all the votes in the 497 precincts included in the pilot areas with approximately 99,400 votes are considered for Legarda, the senator will not be able to overcome de Castro's lead. The margin in favor of de Castro adds up to a total of 881,722 votes, the court noted.
"The protestant has been afforded ample opportunity to adduce evidence in her behalf for the First Aspect of the protest but the evidence presented is simply insufficient to convince the Tribunal to render invalid all or even half of the 881,722 votes that protestee had over her in the last elections for vice president," the PET said. (ECV/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (January 19, 2008 issue)
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