VP Binay asks PET to junk Roxas poll protest

Vice President Jejomar Binay on Monday defended his victory in the recent May 10 automated polls, and asked the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to junk defeated vice presidential bet Manuel Roxas II's election protest against him. In a 76-page counter-protest filed by his counsel Sandra Coronel, Binay asked the tribunal to hold a preliminary hearing and dismiss Roxas' protest because it is bereft of legal basis to seek the nullification of his proclamation as vice president. Coronel said Roxas' protest failed to specify the precincts where the former senator was supposedly cheated of victory. Citing a Supreme Court 1997 ruling, the lawyer said the poll protest should be dismissed because of such failure. "We have determined that [the protest] is nothing but a face-saving measure of a losing candidiate... [Roxas] did not indicate the specific precincts he is protesting. He has made general allegations of fraud and irregularities. Under the Supreme Court rulings, if you fail to mention the specific precincts, the petition may be dismissed. We want the Supreme Court acting as the PET to immediately dismiss the petition for the failure of [Roxas] to indicate the specific precincts," Coronel told reporters. "Protestee [Binay] respectfully prays of this honorable tribunal that a preliminary hearing be held on [Binay's] affirmative defenses and thereafter judgment be rendered dismissing the protest," a portion of Binay's counter-protest read. The counter-protest was in response to Roxas' election protest filed last July 9 before the PET, which is composed of the Supreme Court magistrates sitting en banc, with Chief Justice Renato Corona acting as ex-officio chair. 'No jurisdiction' Roxas asked the tribunal to account for three million null votes and other votes that were not counted during the national canvassing after the May 10 automated elections. He also asked for a thorough review of the automated elections system in light of the technical glitches encountered before, during, and after the elections. "The vice presidential contest was marred by various manifestations of fraud, anomalies, irregularities and statistical improbabilities. It is anomalous that for the Vice President alone, approximately three million votes were disenfranchised to be null/misread votes. Incidence of null/misread votes was interestingly high in provinces where protestant won while curiously low in provinces where protestee (Binay) allegedly win," part of Roxas' poll protest read. Roxas said there were 1,147 clustered precincts where he received 10 votes or less, 688 (or 60 percent) of which were from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM. In the 688 ARMM clustered precincts, 328 were from Lanao del Sur, 251 from Maguindanao. There were likewise 305 clustered precincts were he received less than 1 percent votes of the total precinct turnout, and 204 clustered precincts where he received one or zero vote. However, Binay's camp said PET has no jurisdiction to review the entire automated election system and conduct a forensic investigation on alleged poll fraud. "We are confident that this protest will be dismissed on account of lack of jurisdiction. I cannot imagine how it is in all precincts nadaya siya [Roxas]," said Coronel. Fraud in Roxas' bailiwicks? Binay's camp also turned the tables on Roxas and asked the PET to issue a precautionary protection order for the 14,111 ballot boxes from the precincts in Regions 6, 7, and Caraga, which Roxas claimed to be his bailiwicks. "At the end of the elections, there were persistent reports about illegal ballots having been used during the elections, or the thermal papers that were Comelec [Commission on Elections] stamped were not used," said Coronel. P166 million filing fee Binay's counter-protest likewise said Roxas should pay the tribunal some P166 million docket fees to cover the examination of a total of 333,270 established precincts in 76,340 clustered precincts nationwide. "Under the 2010 PET Rules, each protestant should make a cash deposit with the tribunal in the amount of P500 for each precinct involved in his protest," said Binay's counter-protest. "If [Roxas] feels that he will need the PET to open all these ballot boxes and claims that he genuinely believes that fraud and irregularities occurred, he has to show the sincerity by providing the necessary amount," added Coronel. Last month, Supreme Court administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said Roxas paid P100,000 in docket fees and a P200,000 advance payment, adding that the amount might reach about P7 million should the case drag on. — RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV