CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Just like the recall petition against Gov. Eddie Panlilio that was virtually ignored by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the electoral protest that has given way to a recount of votes in this province will just be another source of “false hopes” for his critics.
“The Comelec should admit it has no time to resolve the protest before the 2010 polls, “ said Panlilio’s lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who once said that the recall petition signed by some 200,000 local folk against the governor last year would not be acted upon due to lack of both funds and time. The petition, although complying with the requirements of law, has been virtually trashed.
This, even as Comelec provincial supervisor Temmie Lambino told Punto that four 10-wheeled trucks provided by former provincial board member Lilia Pineda, who filed the electoral protest against Panlilio, retrieved yesterday from towns throughout this province over 4,000 ballot boxes and deposited them at the provincial police headquarters here.
“At least 31 policemen in four patrol cars will escort the ballot boxes from the police headquarters to the Comelec central office where the recount of votes cast for governor will be done,” he said.
The same four trucks provided by Pineda will leave the premises of the police compound at 6 a.m. today to transport the ballot boxes to the Comelec warehouse in Manila, he added.
Lambino said, however, that ballots in Magalang, Pampanga had earlier been moved to the Comelec in Manila arising from a pending mayoral electoral protest that remains pending, while the ballot boxes in Mabalacat town would remain under local police custody also amid a pending case arising from the burning of ballot boxes in the town after the 2007 elections.
He clarified that the transportation cost was shouldered by Pineda in accordance with an order issued in 2007 by the Comelec’s second division. In the same year, Pineda deposited P4.4 million to the polls body’s division to cover expenses for recount of votes.
Lambino said, however, that the cost of transporting the ballot boxes to Manila was apart from the P4.4 million deposit, and that this was also shouldered by Pineda.
In a text message to Punto, Macalintal said “it will take a year for a division of the Comelec to decide (Pineda’s protest case), with the aggrieved party having the right to appeal to the Comelec en banc.”
“The Comelec should admit it has no time to resolve the protest before the 2010 polls considering it is busy preparing for the elections, instead of giving parties concerned and the people false hopes,” he stressed.
Last year, critics of Panlilio gathered some 200,000 signatures of local voters in a petition expressind lack of confidence in the governor. The petition, which was certified as compliant with the law, could have led to special gubernatorial polls, but the Comelec admitted it had neither funds nor time to act on it.
Last July 28, the Supreme Court en banc issued with finality a resolution upholding the Comelec’s second division’s order for the recount of votes cast in 2007 for governor of this province.
The recount was petitioned by Pineda, the pro-administration candidate who lost to independent Panlilio by 1,147 votes, as she claimed vote buying and other anomalies in the polls.
Panlilio’s lawyers said that the Supreme Court’s favoring the Comelec second division’s verdict would open the floodgates for “frivolous” electoral complaints being filed by rich candidates against their poor but winning adversaries after the 2010 elections.
“The Comelec should admit it has no time to resolve the protest before the 2010 polls, “ said Panlilio’s lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who once said that the recall petition signed by some 200,000 local folk against the governor last year would not be acted upon due to lack of both funds and time. The petition, although complying with the requirements of law, has been virtually trashed.
This, even as Comelec provincial supervisor Temmie Lambino told Punto that four 10-wheeled trucks provided by former provincial board member Lilia Pineda, who filed the electoral protest against Panlilio, retrieved yesterday from towns throughout this province over 4,000 ballot boxes and deposited them at the provincial police headquarters here.
“At least 31 policemen in four patrol cars will escort the ballot boxes from the police headquarters to the Comelec central office where the recount of votes cast for governor will be done,” he said.
The same four trucks provided by Pineda will leave the premises of the police compound at 6 a.m. today to transport the ballot boxes to the Comelec warehouse in Manila, he added.
Lambino said, however, that ballots in Magalang, Pampanga had earlier been moved to the Comelec in Manila arising from a pending mayoral electoral protest that remains pending, while the ballot boxes in Mabalacat town would remain under local police custody also amid a pending case arising from the burning of ballot boxes in the town after the 2007 elections.
He clarified that the transportation cost was shouldered by Pineda in accordance with an order issued in 2007 by the Comelec’s second division. In the same year, Pineda deposited P4.4 million to the polls body’s division to cover expenses for recount of votes.
Lambino said, however, that the cost of transporting the ballot boxes to Manila was apart from the P4.4 million deposit, and that this was also shouldered by Pineda.
In a text message to Punto, Macalintal said “it will take a year for a division of the Comelec to decide (Pineda’s protest case), with the aggrieved party having the right to appeal to the Comelec en banc.”
“The Comelec should admit it has no time to resolve the protest before the 2010 polls considering it is busy preparing for the elections, instead of giving parties concerned and the people false hopes,” he stressed.
Last year, critics of Panlilio gathered some 200,000 signatures of local voters in a petition expressind lack of confidence in the governor. The petition, which was certified as compliant with the law, could have led to special gubernatorial polls, but the Comelec admitted it had neither funds nor time to act on it.
Last July 28, the Supreme Court en banc issued with finality a resolution upholding the Comelec’s second division’s order for the recount of votes cast in 2007 for governor of this province.
The recount was petitioned by Pineda, the pro-administration candidate who lost to independent Panlilio by 1,147 votes, as she claimed vote buying and other anomalies in the polls.
Panlilio’s lawyers said that the Supreme Court’s favoring the Comelec second division’s verdict would open the floodgates for “frivolous” electoral complaints being filed by rich candidates against their poor but winning adversaries after the 2010 elections.
