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Governor Eddie T. Panlilio of Pampanga asked the Supreme Court (SC)
to enjoin the recount sought for by his defeated opponent for
governor in the May 2004 elections, Lilia Pineda.
In a 110-page petition for certiorari, the
governor-priest of Pampanga asked the High Court to issue a
temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the Commission on
Elections (Comelec) from implementing the resolution it issued on
June 23, 2007, that favored the election protest of Pineda.
The said Comelec ruling ordered the revision of
ballots pertaining to the protested 4,847 precincts in Pampanga.
Panlilio also assailed the Comelec’s junking
of his motion for reconsideration asking them to disallow the said
recount. This act of Comelec resulted in grave abuse of discretion
amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.
He stressed that the Comelec should have
dismissed the plea of Pineda for the revision of ballots since it is
considered a sham protest.
“To begin with, the election protest should
have been dismissed outright because, on its face, it is a sham
protest. A perusal of the petition will show that private respondent
has absolutely no cause of action against petitioner,” the
petition states.
Panlilio also assailed the questionable act of
the Comelec in accepting the cash bond of Pineda amounting to P4
million on August 1, 2007, for the said election protest despite the
election court’s failure to resolve first his motion for
reconsideration.
“Public respondent Comelec committed grave
abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in
denying petitioner’s omnibus motion despite the serious
irregularities which attended the issuance of public respondent
Comelec of the assailed order dated August 1, 2007, denying his
motion for reconsideration, and which rendered doubtful the
propriety of such denial,” the pleading says.
He argued that a TRO against the Comelec is
necessary to avoid any grave and irreparable injury to his rights as
the sitting governor of Pampanga.
-- Jomar Canlas
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