CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday that the revision of votes cast in 2007 for Pampanga governor continues to be pursued despite the lack of signatures of so-called revisors who have reportedly been affected by floods triggered by storm Ondoy.
“The Comelec has the power to subpoena and hold them in contempt, but then, the supervisors of the 21 committees which did the revision of the ballots can sign the reports so that the Comelec’s second division can proceed with its work,” Edgardo Cervando of the Comelec’s Electoral Contest and Adjudication Department (ECAD) told Punto.
The results of the revision process could lead to either the confirmation of Gov. Eddie Panlilio as governor of this province, or the installation of former provincial board member Lilia Pineda as the governor. It was Pineda’s electoral protest that led to the recount and revision of votes cast for governor in this province in the 2007 polls. Panlilio won over her only by 1,147 votes.
Last Sept. 16, 21 revision committees finished with their task of recounting ballots from a total 4,683 ballot boxes from all precincts which cast votes for governor in this province in 2007. The committees were given 10 days or up to last Tuesday within which to finish and pool their reports for the appreciation of the Comelec’s second division headed by Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer.
Cervando explained that each committee is composed of five, including two representatives each from the camps of Panlilio and Pineda, with a lawyer designated by the Comelec acting as supervisors for each committee.
He admitted that some supervisors have so far failed to sign their committee’s report which was finished way back last Sept. 16. This has delayed the pooling of their reports for a common document supposed to be submitted to the second division.
Nina Taberna, also of the Comelec’s ECAD, said that some of the revisors were apparently also severely affected by the floods wrought by storm Ondoy.
“With or without their signatures, we can collate and bundle their reports so as not to derail the revision process,” Cervando said, as he stressed that the recount itself has remained unknown as the reports of the 21 committees have not been pooled together yet.
Taberna said that last Monday, the second division had already asked for the pooled report of the 21 committees but failed to get this arising from the lack of signatures.
“The entire report is composed of four volumes comprising of the report of each of the 21 committees which, on the average, made 10 pages of report per precinct. Each committee handled about 223 precincts each,” she noted.
Taberna said that the first and second volumes of the report were already submitted to the Comelec’s second division.
The Pampanga Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which was designated by the Comelec to help in the information campaign to make Pampanga folk more aware of the process involved in the recount, noted in its web blog that the pooled report of the committees would be the bases of the second division in deciding on the electoral protest.
The division, however, would first have to hold a hearing which will enable both the camps of Panlilio and Pineda to raise any point in regard to the revision process done by the 21 committees.
A resolution and writ of execution to be issued later by the second division, however, can be appealed by either party before the Comelec en banc. The en banc verdict, in turn, can be elevated to the Supreme Court by the losing party, the PPCRV said.
“The Comelec has the power to subpoena and hold them in contempt, but then, the supervisors of the 21 committees which did the revision of the ballots can sign the reports so that the Comelec’s second division can proceed with its work,” Edgardo Cervando of the Comelec’s Electoral Contest and Adjudication Department (ECAD) told Punto.
The results of the revision process could lead to either the confirmation of Gov. Eddie Panlilio as governor of this province, or the installation of former provincial board member Lilia Pineda as the governor. It was Pineda’s electoral protest that led to the recount and revision of votes cast for governor in this province in the 2007 polls. Panlilio won over her only by 1,147 votes.
Last Sept. 16, 21 revision committees finished with their task of recounting ballots from a total 4,683 ballot boxes from all precincts which cast votes for governor in this province in 2007. The committees were given 10 days or up to last Tuesday within which to finish and pool their reports for the appreciation of the Comelec’s second division headed by Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer.
Cervando explained that each committee is composed of five, including two representatives each from the camps of Panlilio and Pineda, with a lawyer designated by the Comelec acting as supervisors for each committee.
He admitted that some supervisors have so far failed to sign their committee’s report which was finished way back last Sept. 16. This has delayed the pooling of their reports for a common document supposed to be submitted to the second division.
Nina Taberna, also of the Comelec’s ECAD, said that some of the revisors were apparently also severely affected by the floods wrought by storm Ondoy.
“With or without their signatures, we can collate and bundle their reports so as not to derail the revision process,” Cervando said, as he stressed that the recount itself has remained unknown as the reports of the 21 committees have not been pooled together yet.
Taberna said that last Monday, the second division had already asked for the pooled report of the 21 committees but failed to get this arising from the lack of signatures.
“The entire report is composed of four volumes comprising of the report of each of the 21 committees which, on the average, made 10 pages of report per precinct. Each committee handled about 223 precincts each,” she noted.
Taberna said that the first and second volumes of the report were already submitted to the Comelec’s second division.
The Pampanga Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which was designated by the Comelec to help in the information campaign to make Pampanga folk more aware of the process involved in the recount, noted in its web blog that the pooled report of the committees would be the bases of the second division in deciding on the electoral protest.
The division, however, would first have to hold a hearing which will enable both the camps of Panlilio and Pineda to raise any point in regard to the revision process done by the 21 committees.
A resolution and writ of execution to be issued later by the second division, however, can be appealed by either party before the Comelec en banc. The en banc verdict, in turn, can be elevated to the Supreme Court by the losing party, the PPCRV said.
