Panlilio given 3 days to oppose rival's declaration

Ousted Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio was given three days to oppose the petition of former provincial board member Lilia Pineda that sought to implement a resolution declaring her as the rightful governor of their province. In a hearing held Thursday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division ordered Panlilio to file his supplemental opposition to the motion for the implementation of a writ of execution filed by Pineda within three days. During the 2007 elections, Pineda lost to Panlilio by a margin of 1,147 votes and accused the winning politician-priest of cheating and initiated recount proceedings against him with the Comelec. But last week, the second division said Pineda got 190,729 votes while Panlilio got 188,718 votes, a margin of 2,011. Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, in his concurring opinion, said that Pineda won by only 356 votes. (See: Panlilio ousted as Pampanga governor; who’s next in line?) To prevent the resolution from being executed, Panlilio filed a motion for reconsideration on Wednesday. Pineda, for her part, filed a motion for a writ of execution pending appeal. Panlilio, through lawyer Sixto Brillantes, said that he needs three days to file an opposition to the former board member's motion. "Since I was concentrating on the motion for reconsideration, I was not able to put in some items, I will be able to add some further arguments," he told reporters. He said that he plans to once again cite the "error" in the appreciation of the ballots in the seemingly "rushed" recount proceedings. However, Pineda's lawyer George Erwin Garcia clarified that they were not rushing things by filing a writ of execution. He added that his client did not want him to file the petition to execute the decision, he did. "It was the honest reaction of a lawyer who thinks the decision is right," he said, adding that Pineda was actually willing to wait for the disposition of the motion for reconsideration. Panlilio's motion for reconsideration effectively elevated the electoral protest to the Comelec en banc. On the other hand, the motion for the implementation of the writ of execution remains with the second division. - RJAB/KBK, GMANews.TV