In Resolution No. 6657, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruled that all "Bong" votes must be counted in favor of Coo, senatorial candidate of Alyansa ng Pag-asa which has former education secretary Raul Roco as its presidential standard-bearer.
Coo listed "Bong" as her nickname in her certificate of candidacy. On the other hand, Revilla, senatorial candidate of the pro-administration Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan para sa Kinabukasan (K-4), gave the nickname "Kap" — the character he played in the television series "Idol ko si Kap."
Revilla also registered his surname as "Bong Revilla" and his first name as "Ramon Jr." — his screen name, after that of his father, Sen. Ramon Revilla.
Following Revilla’s defeat in the name game, the 55-year-old Coo has accused the administration of threatening her and her family after she refused to give up the nickname "Bong" to the pro-administration candidate.
"They are after my name and they also want to shake the Alyansa," she told a press conference yesterday.
"Ang loyalty ko ho sa aking bansa, (kahit) nuong ako’y isang atleta, ay hindi ho nabibili. Hindi ho ako natatakot at kailanman hindi ko ipagbibili ang presidente ko.
"Isa po akong atleta, hindi ho ako naghuhulog ng laro at hindi ko ho pwedeng ipagbili ang aking presidente," Coo said.
With tears rolling down her face, Coo said a presidential adviser, whom she did not name, offered her last April 12 the position of presidential adviser for sports if she would withdraw from the elections.
"They claimed that, anyway, I don’t have any chance of winning," she said. "I declined."
Coo, who is making her first bid for public office, said five days later on April 19, Revilla himself personally asked her to back out in exchange for P20 million.
"I did not expect that," she said "He supposedly fought piracy as a former chairman of the Videogram Regulatory Board, but he wants to pirate my name."
Coo said on April 27, a day before Roco returned from the United States, a man identifying himself as a member of the Presidential Security Group called her up and threatened to harm her and her family if she did not withdraw from the senatorial race.
"I was given an ultimatum," she said. "The caller said that I should withdraw or they would harm me and my family."
Coo, a mother of two grown-up sons, said it was a struggle for her to come out, but that making the threats public is her best security.
"GMA, you are also a mother like me," she said, using President Arroyo’s. "You should know how a mother feels when her family is in danger. Why do you have to do this to me? I cannot be bought."
Nicanor Gatmaytan Jr., Coo’s lawyer and fellow Alyansa ng Pag-asa senatorial candidate, said if Coo withdraws from the elections, it would be easy for Revilla to "work it out with the Comelec" to have the "Bong" votes counted in his favor.
Revilla could not change his nickname now because the period for amending certificates of candidacy lapsed last April 20, he added.
Coo is set to file charges of bribery and grave threats against the three before the Comelec and the regular court.