Team Unity’s lawyers yesterday filed 120 motions to “recall, recompute, recanvass and exclude all canvassed votes” in areas where TU “got only one senator in the top 12.”
The STAR received a text message last night from TU campaign manager Reli German, who said the move was meant to “put on record the fraud committed by the opposition.”
The TU filed these cases of electoral fraud against the Genuine Opposition, saying it has gathered evidence showing that GO candidates and their allies padded and shaved votes in some areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other provinces in the country that are considered GO bailiwicks to gain a bigger advantage over TU – and even over fellow opposition bets.
The electoral protests cover the election results in the cities of Pasay, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Valenzuela, Makati, Manila, Marikina, Pasig, General Santos and Zamboanga; the towns of Malabon and Navotas; and the provinces of Cavite, Rizal, Camarines Norte, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Ilocos Norte, among others.
German and TU deputy spokesperson Tonypet Albano said they waited for their lawyers to finish collating evidence before coming out in a press conference. They also hit the GO candidates for making unsubstantiated charges.
With these cases, TU officials expect there will be a delay in the canvassing and proclamation of winners in the senatorial derby. German said six million votes left uncanvassed along with the results of the possible recanvassing or exclusion of election returns and statement of votes in some areas dominated by the opposition may still alter the ranking of the senatorial candidates from top to bottom.
The GO has been asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proclaim as winners the frontrunners in the ongoing canvassing.
“We are not even in the fourth quarter of this game, if we compare it to basketball, and yet some people are whooping it up already and claiming victory,” German said.
TU bet Juan Miguel Zubiri said he was surprised to find out that, in Makati, even its former congressman, TU senatorial bet Joker Arroyo, lost in some precincts.
“After they have filled up the 12 slots for GO, they put there (singer) Victor Wood in No. 13 and other unknowns just to insult us, just to make a mockery of us. That is statistically improbable. We had been very kind and now we will fight back,” Zubiri said. “The gloves are off. No more Mr. Nice Guy. They should put or shut up.”
Zubiri also said he was fed up with the allegations of GO senatorial candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III that the administration was rigging election results in Mindanao so Zubiri could enter the Magic 12 of the Senate race. Pimentel is the son of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
GO bets Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Nikki Coseteng have also been alleging that a lot of election rigging occurred in various places. Lacson threatened to file charges of election sabotage against poll officials in Sulu and Maguindanao for their alleged connivance with certain local politicians in committing fraud.
Zubiri, TU chief legal counsel Romulo Macalintal, German and Albano said it was time to fight back, since the GO has been getting much publicity from the media with its claims that the TU was engaging in massive electoral fraud nationwide.
“They have been saying that if any of TU bets enter the Magic 12, then some (unfair) means were employed to make it happen. I take that as an insult,” said Zubiri, who has been dislodging Pimentel from the winning column.
Zubiri dared Pimentel to support his allegations or “keep his opinions to himself” because from the beginning, the TU bet said he had been leading in Mindanao compared to the GO candidate.
While the younger Pimentel and Zubiri are both from Mindanao, Zubiri said he won three consecutive terms in Congress in Bukidnon while Pimentel lost in earlier elections in Cagayan de Oro City: “I even beat him in his own hometown and in his own Region X.”
He said Pimentel should know that he was more popular than Pimentel in Mindanao. While he may concede defeat in the NCR and Luzon, Zubiri said, his votes from the Visayas and Mindanao can put him in the 11th slot, based on the TU’s own canvassing.
Zubiri said the votes from 11 provinces in Mindanao have yet to be canvassed and nobody in the last four spots of the Magic 12 can yet claim victory.
“Until all the dust is settled in these areas in Mindanao, I am sure I will be able to emerge over Pimentel in this fight,” he said.
Zubiri has asked his lawyers to look into the election results in General Santos and Zamboanga, since he lost in areas where he had a lot of friends and relatives: “I wonder why I would land No. 13 in these places.” – With Christina Mendez, Sheila Crisostomo