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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
Aquino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd
claimed victory Wednesday in his protest against the proclamation
of Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri as the 12th winner in
the 2007 senatorial election.
In a press conference at the
World Trade Center, Pimentel said he has won his protest against
Zubiri by 246,553 votes. Zubiri was proclaimed winner on July 14,
2007, with and edge of 19,292 votes over Pimentel.
“Any day longer that Zubiri
stays in office as senator is an injustice to the Filipino
people,” Pimentel said
Zubiri was not available for
comment. However, lawyer Romulo Macalintal, his counsel, belied
Pimentel’s claim.
“It is not the protestant who
proclaims himself the winner. It is the Senate Electoral Tribunal
[SET] that proclaims the winner,” Macalintal told The Manila
Times.
He said that Pimentel could even
be cited in contempt for preempting the decision of the Senate
Electoral Tribunal.
Pimentel said he had already
overhauled the presumptive lead of Zubiri based on the revision of
ballots from six of the nine pilot towns that constituted 25 percent
of the precincts whose results he had protested. The nine towns have
664 precincts. He protested the results in 2,658 precincts.
He said that 70,922, or 98.8
percent of the ballots cast in the towns of Buluan, Ampatuan, Paglat,
and Guindulungan, all in Maguindanao province, and in the towns of
Sultan Naga Dimaporo and Salvador, both in Lanao del Norte, were
spurious so they would all be nullified.
The nullification means Zubiri
will lose the 69, 177 votes credited to him and Pimentel, 3,916
votes. Pimentel said he would make a net gain of 65,261, enough to
overhaul Zubiri’s lead. He claimed that the revision in all nine
pilot areas gave him 102,758 more votes. He said that with a
recovery rate of 155 votes per precinct, he projected a win of
246,553 votes over Zubiri.
Macalintal said the so-called
lead of Pimentel over Zubiri was based on the findings of Pimentel’s
own revisors.
“The revision still has to be
reviewed by the SET, which has the final say. The Supreme Court had
previously decided in the case of Miriam Defensor-Santiago vs. Fidel
V. Ramos that the revision by Santiago’s team was not binding on
the Presidential Electoral Tribunal because it was self-serving,”
he said.
Pimentel said he expected the
protest case to be up for final resolution on November 15.
Macalintal would not give any specific date, saying the Senate
Electoral Tribunal still had to decide on the period for Zubiri to
present evidence on anomalies in the 73,265 precincts involved in
his counter-protest. Zubiri said he had 620 days or 2 days to show
evidence for each of the towns involved in the counter-protest while
Pimentel said it should only be 84 days or until October 15.
“I doubt if he could present
any evidence because there was none. He made a net gain of only 98
votes in the revision of 18,316 ballot boxes. He was not cheated. He
was the beneficiary of cheating,” Pimentel said.
Macalintal said Pimentel should
wait for the final decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal on how
much time Zubiri has to present his evidence.
“It is much better for
him to run in 2010,” he said, while doubting that the protest case
would be resolved within a year.
Pimentel said he would not run in
2010. However, he contended that even if he runs, his protest would
not be dismissed until he wins, is proclaimed and takes his oath.
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