CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Defeated gubernatorial candidate Lilia Pineda needs no less than 2,985 votes to win over Gov. Eddie Panlilio in the recount of votes now being done by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sans the ballots cast and later burned in Mabalacat town.
This is because ballot boxes containing votes cast in Mabalacat were not among those transported to Comelec in Manila for the recount petitioned by Pineda.
Comelec provincial officer Temmie Lambino cited a still pending arson case involving the burning of already counted ballots at the Mabalacat municipal hall in August, 2007. The fire destroyed 154 of 399 ballot boxes containing the election materials being contested by Pineda and her ally, Mabalacat mayoral bet Anthony Dee. Some 41 percent of the ballots cast in the town were destroyed.
Even before the still unsolved burning case, Comelec records showed reelectionist former governor Mark Lapid led in Mabalacat with 21,419 votes. Panlilio got 16,476 votes while Pineda had 13,491, or a difference of 2,985 votes between them.
This would mean that without the Mabalacat vote being counted, Pineda could still be declared winner if recounted votes from other Pampanga towns would show her with no less that 2,985 votes.
Lambino said that votes cast in yet another town, Magalang, had been transported even earlier to the Comelec in Manila amid a pending electoral protest between two mayoral contenders in the town.
Panlilio topped in Magalang with 11,097 voters, Pineda with 9,428 votes, and Lapid with only 7,795 votes.
A total of 779,100 out of 1,128,411 registered voters cast their votes in Pampanga in the 2007 elections. Panlilio, a priest who was suspended from his ministry after he opted to run for governor, garnered 219,706 votes with a margin of 1,147 votes over Pineda’s 218,559 votes.
This is because ballot boxes containing votes cast in Mabalacat were not among those transported to Comelec in Manila for the recount petitioned by Pineda.
Comelec provincial officer Temmie Lambino cited a still pending arson case involving the burning of already counted ballots at the Mabalacat municipal hall in August, 2007. The fire destroyed 154 of 399 ballot boxes containing the election materials being contested by Pineda and her ally, Mabalacat mayoral bet Anthony Dee. Some 41 percent of the ballots cast in the town were destroyed.
Even before the still unsolved burning case, Comelec records showed reelectionist former governor Mark Lapid led in Mabalacat with 21,419 votes. Panlilio got 16,476 votes while Pineda had 13,491, or a difference of 2,985 votes between them.
This would mean that without the Mabalacat vote being counted, Pineda could still be declared winner if recounted votes from other Pampanga towns would show her with no less that 2,985 votes.
Lambino said that votes cast in yet another town, Magalang, had been transported even earlier to the Comelec in Manila amid a pending electoral protest between two mayoral contenders in the town.
Panlilio topped in Magalang with 11,097 voters, Pineda with 9,428 votes, and Lapid with only 7,795 votes.
A total of 779,100 out of 1,128,411 registered voters cast their votes in Pampanga in the 2007 elections. Panlilio, a priest who was suspended from his ministry after he opted to run for governor, garnered 219,706 votes with a margin of 1,147 votes over Pineda’s 218,559 votes.
