Angara asked to inhibit from Pimentel poll protest vs Zubiri

Former Sen. Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. on Thursday urged Sen. Edgardo Angara to inhibit himself from taking part in the deliberations of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) in connection with the the electoral protest filed by his son Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III against Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri. The elder Pimentel said Angara should inhibit himself from the case because he himself was a "beneficiary" of the alleged fraud in the province of Maguindanao in 2007 which supposedly ushered Zubiri into the 12th senatorial spot. "From the official documents used by the Comelec to proclaim the winners of the 2007 senatorial elections, it looks like protestee Zubiri may not be the only one who had stolen his way into the Senate," he said in a statement released Thursday. The former senator is lead counsel for his son, Koko. As of posting time, GMANews.TV was still trying to reach Angara for his comment on the matter. 'Search for truth' In claiming that Angara was himself a beneficiary of alleged poll fraud, the elder Pimentel said the former garnered 193,990 votes in Maguindanao while Zubiri received 195,823 votes and Luis Singson 194,241 votes. "It is with some pain in the heart — considering that he had been a colleague of the undersigned counsel in the Senate for some time— that Senator Angara should be reminded of the officially-tallied results for the province of Maguindanao in the 2007 national and local elections," he said. "In the search for truth, considerations of camaraderie or even friendship must be set aside so that justice may be accorded to those who have been victimized by oppressive and powerful forces," Pimentel added. In June, Koko filed a manifestation with a motion for the disqualification of Senators Angara, Loren Legarda, and Lito Lapid from sitting as members of the SET. However, the three senators returned to the SET after it was reorganized in July. The other members of the tribunal are Senators Francis Pangilinan, Gregorio Honasan, and Pia Cayetano. Koko ranked 13th in the 2007 senatorial elections with 10,987,347 votes while Zubiri clinched the 12th spot with 11,005,866 votes. Koko contested the win and the SET ruled in 2008 that he may proceed with his protest. Zubiri, however, filed a counter protest and said that he was cheated in more than 73,000 precincts. Last June 4, the SET, voting 7-2, allowed Zubiri to proceed with the revision of the results. —Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV