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Trillanes readies poll protest despite top 12 ranking


Genuine Opposition candidate Antonio Trillanes IV said Monday he file will an electoral protest against alleged cheating in the May elections despite holding on to one of the 12 available slots in the senatorial race in the Commission on Election’s latest tally. “There was cheating even if I am in the top 12," Trillanes said in a television interview. The former Navy junior officer, who is in ranked 11th in the most recent Comelec’s partial official tally, said he has evidence to back his protest. “We are going to prove that (cheating) to the end, to show that the will of the people will prevail," he said, in particular citing alleged cheating in Mindanao. The GO senatorial bet also said that he would pursue the case despite allegations that even some of his party-mates benefited from cheating. “We have to prove that (cheating) regardless of who benefited," said Trillanes. If he is proclaimed a winner in the Senate race, Trillanes said he will ask the Makati regional trial court presiding over his case to allow him to attend the legislative body's regular sessions. A former Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade (equivalent to an Army captain), Trillanes was a key leader of the Magdalo group of soldiers who staged the July 27, 2003 Oakwood mutiny, supposedly to protest corruption in government and the military. Detained since the Oakwood mutiny, he is undergoing trial before a court martial and is also facing coup d’etat charges before a Makati court. The military considers Trillanes resigned after he joined the senatorial race. Fellow GO bet Aquilino “Koko" Pimentel III, who is holding on to the last of 12 spots in the senatorial race, earlier said he will file electoral sabotage charges against provincial canvassers who allegedly shaved votes in North and South Cotabato in favor of 13th-ranked Team Unity bet Miguel Zubiri. Twelve of 24 Senate seats are at stake in the elections. -GMANews.TV

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