Filtered By: Topstories
News

SET may come out with ruling within the year - Koko Pimentel


MANILA, Philippines - Opposition senatorial candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said Friday the Senate Electoral Tribunal may come out with its decision on his electoral protest against administration Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri before the year ends. "I don't want to preempt any decision by the SET but I'm expecting it will come out with the full decision before (the) year ends," Pimentel said during the weekly Balitaan sa Hotel Rembrandt forum in Quezon City. Pimentel filed his electoral protest contesting the 12th and final Senate slot against Zubiri, who was proclaimed winner by the Commission on Elections in the May 2007 midterm polls. Almost after a year of hearing the case, the nine-member SET, headed by Senior Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, came out with a resolution ordering the re-tabulation of the 75 percent of the contested ballots in precincts in Patikul, Sulu. Pimentel, quoting the findings of the SET on the pilot six of the nine pilot precincts in towns in Maguindanao, said the poll tribunal discovered that 71,000 of the 72,000 ballots were bogus. He said that with the SET findings, he has been given by the tribunal to go to the second stage of his electoral protest, which is the collection and re-tabulation of the questionable ballots. Aside from Maguindanao, Pimentel had questioned the ballots coming from 2,658 precincts in Lanao del Norte, Shariff Kabunsuan, Basilan, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Sur and Sulu provinces. Pimentel estimates the process of the collection and re-tabulation of votes could take about two to three months. "All they need are documentary evidence and memoranda to explain the findings," he said. But he said that he would need at least P70 million for the re-tabulation of votes in Maguindanao alone. He said that he had asked his friends to contribute to his cause. At the same time, Pimentel said he is uncertain if Zubiri would still pursue his counter-protest of ballots from more than 73,000 poll precincts with the latest SET resolution. With the recent developments, Pimentel said he is projecting to gain 250,000 more votes than Zubiri during the May 14 elections. Based on the Comelec tally, Zubiri was proclaimed winner with 11,004,099 votes while Pimentel placed 13th with 10,0984,807 votes. In the next two weeks, Pimentel said he would file criminal and administrative charges against poll officers who might have connived to tamper election returns in the May 2007 elections. - GMANews.TV
LOADING CONTENT