CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Commission on Elections on Thursday began transferring the 4,688 ballot boxes in Pampanga’s 20 towns and this capital in preparations for the recount of votes cast in the gubernatorial race in May 2007. Deposited at the Pampanga police office, the ballot boxes will be taken to the Comelec office in Manila today.
The Comelec first picked up the ballot boxes in the second district starting with Sta. Rita town at 8:45 a.m.
Supposed to start at 8 a.m., the transfer got delayed when Comelec provincial supervisor Temie Lambino revised the route by starting it in Sasmuan.
Lambino confirmed the change and said he reverted to the original route after learning that the Thursday visit of President Macapagal-Arroyo will go past 3 p.m. and thus will not affect the Comelec’s collection of the ballot boxes.
The police secured the transfer of the ballot boxes, which had been in the custody of local treasurers. The boxes, sealed since after the 2007 polls, contained election returns and official ballots used in the May 2007 polls.
At the onset, the lawyers and volunteers of former Provincial Board Member Lilia Pineda, who sought the recount, outnumbered the teams fielded by Gov. Eddie Panlilio.
Members of the National Movement for Free Elections and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting observed the process.
The ballot boxes were expected to be all in at the provincial police headquarters, just 500 meters beside the Capitol, at 5 p.m. Thursday, Lambino said.
These will all be transported on Friday to the Comelec Manila office where the recount will be held.
Voters who cast their votes for Panlilio are expected to converge at the capitol grounds at 5 p.m. for a prayer-vigil to defend what they call “conscience votes.”
Panlilio won by 1,147 votes against Pineda. His victory was seen as a by his supporters as a “miracle,” having won through the people power mounted by Kapampangans.
Pineda had said she, too, had the right to know the truth as she alleged of election fraud by Panlilio and then Gov. Mark Lapid who finished third in the counting.
The Comelec first picked up the ballot boxes in the second district starting with Sta. Rita town at 8:45 a.m.
Supposed to start at 8 a.m., the transfer got delayed when Comelec provincial supervisor Temie Lambino revised the route by starting it in Sasmuan.
Lambino confirmed the change and said he reverted to the original route after learning that the Thursday visit of President Macapagal-Arroyo will go past 3 p.m. and thus will not affect the Comelec’s collection of the ballot boxes.
The police secured the transfer of the ballot boxes, which had been in the custody of local treasurers. The boxes, sealed since after the 2007 polls, contained election returns and official ballots used in the May 2007 polls.
At the onset, the lawyers and volunteers of former Provincial Board Member Lilia Pineda, who sought the recount, outnumbered the teams fielded by Gov. Eddie Panlilio.
Members of the National Movement for Free Elections and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting observed the process.
The ballot boxes were expected to be all in at the provincial police headquarters, just 500 meters beside the Capitol, at 5 p.m. Thursday, Lambino said.
These will all be transported on Friday to the Comelec Manila office where the recount will be held.
Voters who cast their votes for Panlilio are expected to converge at the capitol grounds at 5 p.m. for a prayer-vigil to defend what they call “conscience votes.”
Panlilio won by 1,147 votes against Pineda. His victory was seen as a by his supporters as a “miracle,” having won through the people power mounted by Kapampangans.
Pineda had said she, too, had the right to know the truth as she alleged of election fraud by Panlilio and then Gov. Mark Lapid who finished third in the counting.
