Roxas camp: Manual vote audit first before electoral protest

The camp of Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II on Thursday said it is still focusing its sights on the joint canvassing of Congress, and has yet to think about about filing any electoral protest before the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Roxas’ camp is keen on demanding a manual audit by Congress of ballots in contested areas rather than filing a protest, Joey Tenefrancia, legal counsel for Roxas during the canvassing of the National Board of Canvassers, said An electoral protest has not yet been "talked about in depth," Tenefrancia said in a press conference in Quezon City. "We are only focused on canvassing and this matter on [nullified votes]. We will cross the bridge when we get there," he added. After Roxas' camp raised concerns on the more than 2.6 million nullified votes in the presidential race during canvassing in Congress on Wednesday, the Comelec and the camp of leading presidential aspirant Jejomar Binay advised Roxas to file an electoral protest after the proclamation. But Roxas’ camp sought to ensure that a manual audit of the ballots in contested areas be carried out first before the proclamation of a president and a vice president, Tenefrancia said. The Roxas camp wasn’t really after its principal’s victory in the vice presidential race and only wanted to ensure the integrity of the recently-concluded elections. "We are not questioning the whole exercise but only [in] certain provinces and certain precincts. What we want is an accurate and complete votes of those nullified votes," he added. Earlier, Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri estimated that proclamation would most likely take place on Tuesday. During the press conference, Liberal party campaign manager Butch Abad raised the possibility that cheating that reportedly took place in the 2004 elections could have happened again in the recently-finished elections. Bringing along information technology expert Anton Bonifacio, who analyzed results of the May 10 elections, Abad noted how the nullified votes were recorded in areas known to be bailiwicks of Roxas. Based on his analysis of the election figures, Bonifacio said around 95 percent of the nullified votes were most likely results of under-voting, while the remaining 5 percent accounted for over-voting. Abad also raised doubts over the high voter turnout in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) — an average of 98 percent — where Binay got majority of the votes. In at least six clustered precincts, the former Makati mayor even secured all votes, leaving Roxas and all other vice presidential aspirants with no votes. Four of these precincts were in Lanao del Sur, one in Maguindanao, and one in Basilan. [See: Bloc voting on May 10 mostly benefits Noynoy Aquino] Despite raising questions about the elections’ integrity, Abad stressed Roxas' camp is not accusing any candidate of cheating, not even Binay. "We are not making any such accusations. We are only raising questions. We pointed out the impossibility of all voters voting and all of them voting for one person," Abad said. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV