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By Efren L. Danao Senior
Reporter
The lawyer of Sen. Juan Miguel
Zubiri said Monday that he would seek a media gag order from the
Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) on the protest filed by Aquilino
Pimentel 3rd, saying the case is being tried before the media based
on “wrong” information fed by the Pimentel camp.
Lawyer George Erwin Garcia said
that the case is subjudice and therefore, it should not be discussed
in media. He criticized Pimentel for claiming that the
“discovery” of empty ballot boxes in the 198 precincts of Sultan
Kudarat, the capital of Sharif Kabunsuan, proved that Zubiri should
not have been credited with 33,000 votes from there.
Pimentel said that if the votes
of Zubiri in Sharif Kabunsuan were invalidated because of the
absence of ballots in the boxes, he would win over Zubiri by 12,000
votes.
“If the 33,000 is taken away,
it is no longer mathematically possible for Zubiri to overtake my
lead,” he said.
He also expressed confidence that
the case would be resolved by June in his favor “unless Zubiri
delays the protest.” Zubiri edged Pimentel by about 17,000 votes
in the official canvassing of the Commission on Elections.
Garcia criticized Pimentel for
making people believe that the empty boxes were suddenly
discovered and then made capital out of it.
“The SET and the camps of
Zubiri and Pimentel knew that the ballot boxes from Sultan Kudarat
were empty when they were taken from the province because the boxes
had glass tops and we could see that they contained nothing. We
have to take them just the same because they were needed as
evidence,” Garcia said.
He charged that Pimentel was
making media mileage out of this “discovery” because it was
favorable to them.
“Yet, they said nothing when we
opened the ballot boxes of four towns in Maguindanao and the ballots
tallied with election documents. It is in Maguindanao, and not in
Sharif Kabunsuan, that they claimed had manufactured certificates of
canvass,” he added.
Maguindanao’s COC showed a 12-0
victory for the administration candidates for senator, with Zubiri
on top. Pimentel claimed that Lintang Bedol, the former provincial
election officer, manufactured the election documents there.
Garcia said they would prove
before the SET that there was an election in Sultan Kudarat and that
ballots were placed inside the boxes and subsequently counted.
“There were rival candidates
there. Local candidates were proclaimed and there were protests,
but we don’t know why the ballot boxes were empty,” he said.
Rep. Didagen Dilangalen of Sharif
Kabunsuan, confirmed in an interview with Karambola over dwIZ that
voting took place in Sultan Kudarat, which he described as the
bailiwick of his rival. He also said that canvassing was ongoing
when an explosion took place and his watchers hurriedly left. He
expressed surprise that the ballot boxes were empty. Dilangalen lost
heavily in Sultan Kudarat.
Garcia said it was not correct
for Pimentel to say that the 33,000 votes of Zubiri should now be
invalidated.
“Fortunately, the votes could
still be determined through the statement of votes and the election
returns,” he said.
Pimentel’s protest involved the
revision of votes in 2,658 precincts only. The SET is expected to
finish its revision on February 25. The result of that revision
would not immediately resolve the issue on who won the 12th Senate
seat as Zubiri has also filed a counter-protest that covers almost
one-third of the entire country. It is only after the
counter-protest has been terminated that a decision could be made.
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