Roxas to file poll protest, wants recount

Defeated Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential candidate Manuel "Mar" Roxas II said he will be filing an electoral protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal regarding his loss in the May 10 elections. Roxas said in a QTV Balitanghali report that he has already consulted with President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III about his plan to bring up the issue of null votes in the last polls. "Ipinaalam ko na kay Pangulong Noynoy na itutuloy ko ang protesta at sabi niya mismo 'Oo,'" Roxas said during a gathering organized by the Filipinos for Good Governance in Manila. The PET handles electoral protests for president and vice president. As much as half a million votes cast in Central and Western Visayas – known Roxas bailiwicks – were considered null votes by the Comelec. Null votes were not counted by automated voting machines because the ballots were incorrectly shaded. Votes were also nullified in cases of undervoting (ballots were not shaded at all) or overvoting (ballots cast exceeded the number of elective positions).

While Aquino secured a landslide presidential victory in the last elections by receiving more than 15 million votes, Roxas — his running-mate — lost to Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino's vice presidential bet Jejomar Binay. Roxas said Aquino agreed with the idea of filing a protest not only for Roxas' sake but also because he (Aquino) still has reservations about the credibility of the first-ever automated elections. "In-encourage niya [Aquino] ako dahil feeling niya pati siya nabawasan ng boto at gusto talaga niya malaman ang kahusayan nitong automated electoral system," Roxas said. (Aquino encouraged me to file the protest because he felt that he got fewer votes than he expected. He also wanted to measure the reliability of the automated electoral system.) His plan to file a protest came weeks after his camp called on the Comelec to conduct a manual audit of all votes in contested areas where the former senator claimed to have been cheated, including in Central and Western Visayas. [See: Roxas camp - Manual vote audit first before electoral protest] Asked to comment on Roxas' plan, Binay gave a brief response: "Oh 'di mag-file. Karapatan niya iyon (Let him file the protest. That's his right)." Under election rules, a candidate is allowed to file a protest within 30 days after proclamation. Roxas said he plans to file the electoral protest before July 9. Main contention Roxas' main contention in his protest was the relatively large number of null votes nationwide, about 2.6 million, during the automated polls. Central and Western Visayas — areas considered as Roxas' bailiwicks — had 500,000 null votes. Roxas said he was not saying that the 2.6 million votes could have all gone to him, but added his camp only wanted to ensure the integrity of the last elections. The final official tally of the National Board of Canvassers showed Binay won over Roxas by only more than 700,000. Binay received 14,645,574 votes, while Roxas got 13,918,490 votes. Roxas assured that his electoral protest will in no way taint the relationship between Aquino and Binay. He said he was merely practicing his right as a candidate to contest election results. On Wednesday, Roxas was seen dropping by Aquino's home on Times Street in Quezon City hours before inauguration rites for the new president and vice president in Manila. Roxas said he opted not to attend the ceremony to avoid stealing the scene from Aquino and his rival, who were sworn in before noon by Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales. He said it felt good to finally be considered "citizen Mar," adding he enjoyed not being flanked by vehicles carrying sirens — or colloquially called "wang wang" — whenever he traveled. - RJAB Jr./LBG, GMANews.TV