Zubiri’s Senate seat in peril as SET OKs ballot review

Zubiri’s Senate seat in peril as SET OKs ballot review

By Angie M. Rosales

Daily Tribune 06/20/2008

The possibility of a last-minute change in the composition of the current 23-man Senate was raised yesterday as the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) issued a resolution ordering the continuation of a review of contested election results following the findings of prima facie evidence and reasonable grounds on the complaint of losing senatorial bet, lawyer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel.

The SET itself, in its nine-page resolution dated June 17, said that “spurious” ballots could directly affect the outcome of last year’s national polls, considering that Pimentel’s closest rival, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who was proclaimed as the 12th senator, only won by 19,292 votes.

Zubiri’s camp, through his lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, however, remained unperturbed by this latest development, claiming he remains confident of Zubiri keeping his current post.

Macalintal said they welcome the resolution of the SET, to erase all doubts over his client’s victory as the 12th winning senator and that they are confident that, in the end, Zubiri’s victory will be affirmed.

“He is not surprised by the said resolution to proceed with the revision proceedings as it is the usual procedure in an election protest. The findings with regard to some spurious ballots found during the revision proceedings will not affect Zubiri’s standing since it has to be established that these are the same ballots used during the election or the ones counted at the precinct level,” Macalintal, who also acts as spokesman on the senator’s poll issue, said.

In particular, however, the so-called spurious votes are mainly from Mindanao, where all too suddenly, Zubiri obtained close to 100,000 votes in just one area, wiping out the 100,000 vote lead of Pimentel. The other Mindanao votes for Zubiri were also seen as questionable.

The contending parties have been issued gag order in discussing the pending protest case in public.

The SET has directed the parties to proceed with the revision on the remaining 75 percent of the contested precincts and the re-tabulation of the election documents in Patikul, Sulu.

“Accordingly, finding sufficient cause therefore, the Tribunal orders the continuation of the proceedings in the instant electoral protest case,” the tribunal said in its resolution.

This came following the recent completion by the SET of the recount of the disputed votes in pilot areas in four Mindanao provinces cast in the May 14, 2007 senatorial election in connection with the electoral protest filed by Koko Pimentel, a Genuine Opposition (GO) candidate.

This is pursuant to the SET rules which provide that a protesting candidate must prove he has solid basis for his protest by showing evidence of fraud in at least 25 percent of the election results in pilot places that are subject of his protest.

In the said resolution, the SET, composed of three Supreme Court justices and six incumbent senators, said results of the initial revision on the first 25 percent precincts revealed that Pimentel, the protestant, “has prima facie valid cause of action.”

“Indeed, there is reasonable ground to believe that the final outcome of the case could affect the officially proclaimed results for the 12th senatorial position in the 14 May 2007 national elections, hence, the election protest case deserves further proceedings by the Tribunal,” it said.

“Suffice it to say at this time, that the results of the initial revision and appreciation proceedings already done showed that the 14 May 2007 election in certain designated pilot areas was characterized by proven irregularities,” it further said.

Of the said revision proceedings comprising 25 percent of the questioned precincts, the tribunal discovered in six of the nine pilot municipalities in Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte, for instance, 98.15 percent of the ballots cast were found to be “spurious” or at least 70,922 ballots were discovered to have been doctored or spurious while only 1,334 ballots were considered genuine.

Zubiri of Team Unity (TU) received some 11,004,099 votes while Pimentel was ranked 13th with 10,984,807 votes.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on July 14, 2007 proclaimed Zubiri as the last winning senator and immediately after, Pimentel filed his protest case before the SET.

The losing senatorial candidate and namesake of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has questioned the results in some 2,658 precincts covering 44 municipalities and seven provinces.

Earlier, the minority leader noted the conduct of the revision proceedings where his son has subjected 664 Precincts in Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Lanao del Norte and Sulu as his pilot precinct areas.

Before the physical counting of the votes in the pilot areas, Koko Pimentel was trailing his rival by 17,251. But after the physical counting of the votes in the pilot areas, he led his rival by 17,117 votes, the minority leader said.

The bases for the reversal of leads consisted of proof submitted by Koko and his lawyers that showed, among other things:

1. The massive use of fake or spurious ballots testified to, among others, by Miguel Arcadio, division chief of the Press Division of the National Printing Office and Teodoro Ferrer, then consultant of the Printing Committee of the Commission on Elections.

2. Use of fake election returns (without watermarks, different sizes of forms, texture of paper, etc.)

3. Mixed genuine and fake ballots in certain precincts.

4. Ballots clearly written by one person or by the same group of cheats as shown by similar handwriting styles or strokes.

5. Precincts without tally boards.

6. Falsified statement of votes as in Matungao, Lanao del Norte.

7. Dagdag-bawas in Basilan where Koko’s votes were slashed by 4,260 votes.

Maguindanao poll anomalies found in SET

The Supreme Court’s senate electoral tribunal panel has opened can of worms in the alleged election fraud committed by elections officials in Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan. Sooner or later fugitive Lintang Bedol and his conspirators will reveal the real score what transpired during the fraudulent 2004 presidential election and 2007 midterm elections.

Pimentel set to unseat Zubiri with fraud proved in Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan ballot boxes

Zubiri poll anomalies found in SET

By Charlie V. Manalo
01/12/2008
It may be just a matter of time before Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III unseats Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is likely to lose his place in the Senate, and perhaps even in shame, with the discovery of the electoral tribunal panel of too many cases of blatant election anomalies.
And it won’t be long either for those involved in the massive election cheating committed against Pimentel, successfully depriving him of a Senate seat, to be brought to the halls of justice and eventually behind bars, by Pimentel himself.
The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) has uncovered election irregularities in four municipalities of Maguindanao and a municipality in Shariff Kabunsuan, with the the number of votes involved reportedly enough for Pimentel to overtake Zubiri’s lead over him for 12th place in the 2007 senatorial elections.
In his protest, Pimentel contests the results of 2,658 precincts where votes had been manipulated to enable administration candidate Zubiri to dislodge him for the last Senate seat.
In an interview yesterday with Pimentel’s lawyer, Leila de Lima, she pointed out that she and her client are satisfied with the early results of the revision being conducted by the SET as the five municipalities alone are enough for Pimentel to unseat Zubiri.
“In the four municipalities of Maguindanao, namely the Ampatuan, Buluan, Paglap and Gindulungan, the number of votes involved is 25,000 which Mr. Zubiri got,” said De Lima. “However, upon opening of the ballot boxes, the SET found out that all election
except the ballots, were all missing.”
She added that upon review of the ballots, most of thesewere found to have been faked and manufactured as they did not bear any of the security features.
De Lima stressed that “the revisionists found out that everything written on the original ballots was done by only one person as can be attested by the same penmanship all throughout.”
It will be recalled that on election day, or a few days after the polls closed, reports were out that teachers who were tapped as election officers, were said to have been abducted and brought to an unnamed island, where they were told by armed men, said to belong to the military, to fill up the empty ballots, all in the name of administration senatorial candidates.
The teacher-whistleblowers came to Manila to face the Commission on Elections commissioners and testify to the fraud being perpetrated. The Comelec commissioners, however, refused to hear them out.
De Lima said what she found more interesting “is the Municipality of Sulatan Kudarat in the Province of Shariff Kabunsuan where Mr. Zubiri established a lead of 31,000 votes over Koko Pimentel. None of the ballot boxes opened by the SET yielded anything. They were totally empty.”
Pimentel’s lawyer explained: “while we may not be able to get a 100 percent nullification of the Zubiri votes in the four municipalities of Maguindanao as they would be subjected to strenuous investigation and revision, we can be assured of a 100 percent nullification of Zubiri’s 31,000 vote lead over Koko in Sultan Kudarat and that would be enough to overtake Zubiri’s lead of roughly 18,000 votes,” De Lima pointed out. Daily Tribune

COMELEC is a disgrace to Filipino nation

'COMELEC failed to resolve poll fraud'

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) criticized Thursday the Commission on Elections' alleged inability to exert effort to restore public trust.

“How can the Filipino people feel good about our elections when the gross mistakes of the past continuously rear their ugly heads in our electoral exercise which can only mean that no genuine effort is being made to regain the public trust?” PPCRV chairwoman Henrietta de Villa said.

The PPCRV, a national parish-based, non-partisan citizens' movement, described the last election as a classic picture of chaos where many Filipinos failed to freely and properly exercise their right to suffrage.

De Villa said the PPCRV is losing patience over the poll body’s canvassing delays and failure to resolve the credibility issue of the last elections.

She said allegations of cheating were due to COMELEC’s failure to address serious and legitimate concerns on the issue of fraud in Mindanao particularly the controversial Maguindanao certificates of canvass which delayed the national canvassing process.

“Election forms that have been missing since the purported canvassing (municipal and provincial) that no poll watcher was allowed to witness suddenly have begun to appear without sufficient believable explanation as to their disappearance then, and reappearance now,” de Villa said.

Reports said Maguindanao province delivered a 12-0 sweep for the administration’s Team Unity candidates.

She said the poll body’s “kid-glove” treatment of Maguindanao poll chief Lintang Bedol is a repeat of the “Hello, Garci” controversy, referring to the alleged anomaly involving former COMELEC commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the 2004 presidential election.

PPCRV criticized Bedol for his repeated defiance of summons from the National Board of Canvassers and the COMELEC en banc resolutions, with the unexplained loss of poll documents supposedly in his custody.

“In an age of global media, scenes and images of Mr. Bedol relaxingly skirting accusations of electoral fraud before the Commission en banc, appearing almost invincible with a gun tucked under his waist in a major daily constitute a flagrant mockery of the electoral values we hope our citizens, especially our young ones will practice and uphold,” said de Villa.

The group also urged the COMELEC to solve the Maguindanao controversy and other election issues.

“For the sake of the 439,693 volunteers of the PPCRV who risked lives and limbs to restore credibility to our elections, we call on the COMELEC to please put a stop to this running travesty of the electoral process,” de Villa said.

The COMELEC has yet to proclaim the 12th senator since canvassing has not been completed despite its assurance that winning national bets will be proclaimed within two weeks after the polls. Also, party-list groups who won a seat at the House of Representatives have yet to be proclaimed.

Zubiri Tops Maguindanao Votes Recounting

Elections chief Abalos is an accomplice to the massive fraud

The COMELEC’s yo-yo policy in handling Maguindanao fraudulent election results is a bad precedent. Why? Are they instructed by Gloria Arroyo to dislodge Koko Pimentel in the winning circle? Where’s Lintang Bedol?


Election watchdog Kontra Daya said Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Benjamin Abalos is an accomplice to the massive fraud in Maguindanao.

Fr. Joe Dizon, Kontra Daya spokesperson, said, “Abalos does not confront head on the accusations of massive fraud in Maguindanao. Instead, he obscures the situation to give leeway for machinations in favor of administration candidate Miguel Zubiri.”

Dizon said, “By refusing to exclude the highly tainted provincial certificate of canvass from the national canvassing and proclaim the Genuine Opposition’s Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, Abalos is still finding ways to get Team Unity’s Zubiri on the 12th slot.”

The Kontra Daya spokesperson hit the Comelec’s handling of Lintang Bedol, head of the Maguindano Board of Canvassers. “Bedol disappeared for some time then mysteriously reappeared saying that the municipal certificates of canvass (COCs) were stolen from right under his nose. Abalos has not ordered Bedol’s suspension pending a thorough investigation and now accepts uncritically the self-serving statement of Governor Ampatuan, represented by his lawyer, that elections were held in a proper and fraud-free way. Abalos also uncritically accepts the statement of the provincial BOC that elections were held on the basis of the alleged minutes of their meeting signed by no less than Bedol himself. Abalos handling of Bedol shows his complicity with the kind of vote manipulation and bare-faced manufacture of results that obviously took place in Maguindanao.”

Kontra Daya criticized the Comelec for its “deliberate effort to confuse the public, especially concerned citizens’ groups, on the schedule of hearings on Maguindanao.” Kontra Daya learned that even the party-list group Bayan Muna failed to manifest its protestations due to this. It was pointed out that Bayan Muna was the one who presented two critical witnesses to the massive fraud in the province, one of whom has been cold bloodedly murdered.

Dizon said, “Witnesses who have executed affidavits proving electoral fraud have not received subpoena from the Comelec. They have not aired their stories. The cover-up aims to save Lintang Bedol, Abalos and Comelec itself from any accountability on the Maguindanao fraud.”

Dizon added, “The Comelec has not valued the life of whistle blower Musa Dimasidsing. The Comelec did not exert any effort to protect his life and the truth about the Maguindanao elections. The lives of other witnesses are in danger and the shameless Abalos does nothing.”

Dimasidsing, a school district supervisor, was shot dead, June 9.

Dizon said, “If the Comelec insists on counting the COCs from Maguindanao, it will only prove once again that it is the machinery of the Arroyo administration for massive cheating.”

Related Links
Philippine Elections: Illusion of Democracy?
Postscript to the May 2007 Elections

Maguindanao ballots filled in banana farm

Philippines bogus President Gloria Arroyo has consistent negative trust ratings since the power grab in 2001. In fact she was rejected by the majority of the Filipino electorate in 2004 presidential election. The rubber stamp Philippine Congress proclaimed her the “winner”? contrary to massive and systematic electoral fraud in Mindanao, Sulu, Cebu, Pampamga, Pangasisnan and Ilocos Sur. All protest and anomalies by the opposition were merely NOTED by her political allies in the joint congress vote canvassing. The repeat of 2004 electoral fraud is happening in Maguindanao, Lanao, Sulu and Cotabato. The resignation of Comelec Commissionaire Rene Sarmiento as Maguindanao poll investigator can be interpreted as, he can no longer stomach Malacanang’s dirty works. Perhaps he cannot produce thru hocus focus millions of votes in favor of losing TU bets.
The result of the senatorial race in favor of the opposition reflects the true sentiments of the Filipino people. Filipinos want her out. In her own turf, Pamapanga province two of GMA allies were castigated and rebuked by a crusading priest. Malacanang and the Comelec are desperate to change the outcome of election results in Moslem Mindanao regions thru massive and systematic electoral fraud in favor of Gloria Arroyo’s Team Unity. Evil Gloria Arroyo and her trusted dog Benjamin Abalos are inviting people’s uprising. Rebellion is justified if discredited and abusive government rams their agenda against the will of its citizens. It’s not right to send senators in the halls of congress without a popular mandate. Filipino patriots must protect sacred votes at all cost.



Maguindanao ballots
filled in banana farm
Teachers’ lament: ‘Will it always be like this?’

Malaya BY DENNIS GADIL

FOUR teachers surfaced yesterday to confirm that in a Maguindanao town, armed men operating in a banana farm filled up official ballots with names of Team Unity candidates.

The teachers, accompanied by re-electionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson at the Genuine Opposition headquarters in Makati City, served as Board of Election Inspectors in Pagalungan town, which has 12 barangays with at least 10,000 registered voters.

One of the teachers, Abdul (not his real name), said they were escorted by armed men to a remote area outside Libang town on the morning of May 14. He said they had just collected ballot boxes from the municipal hall in Pagalungan.

He said Provincial Election Supervisor Eliza Gazmin was inside the municipal hall when they were "abducted."

He said they thought the armed men, some in military jackets and jeans, were their military escorts to the polling precinct in Buliok.

He said they rode a van and then a pump boat, which took them to a remote place of banana stands.

"Pagkaahon namin sa pumpboat, lahat ng cell namin kinuha. Pinatay ang cell phone. Doon kami sa sagingan. Pinabuksan sa amin ang ballot box. Sila na bahala sumulat. Pinabayaan namin, takot kami kasi armado," he said.

Abdul recalled that the names of Cesar Montano and Rep. Prospero Pichay were on the official ballots.

He said the armed men were aided by companions already in the area.

He said there were more than 100 election inspectors in the banana farm that election morning.

He said their other colleagues are also willing to testify.

The teachers said they were taken behind the Montawal municipal hall at around 3 p.m. and told to wait until nightfall.

They were then transferred to another government office in Shariff Aguak and were told to start filling up the election returns (ERs). A female teacher said they spent three days and three nights preparing the ERs.

They said a certain Mohammad Andoy, a former president of the Association of Barangay Chairmen, accompanied them from Montawal to Shariff Aguak.

One female witness said that on May 17 at 11:45 p.m., they were sent to the office of Gazmin for the proclamation of the winners. The results were 12-0 in favor of the TU ticket.

They said Gazmin administered the proclamation even if only four barangays had been canvassed. Votes from eight more barangays still had to be counted.

The four teachers were told to keep quiet and received P3,000 each for their "cooperation."

"Instruction nila, sabi nila pagbalik sa area, kailangan close mouth. Walang salita na pangontra sa kanila. Yan ang order nila, order is an order," one of the teachers said.

"Actually our role was only to open the ballot boxes and sign the tampered documents. We were fed enough and paid also for our cooperation," another teacher-witness said.

"Kung hindi kami lalantad, habambuhay ganito na lang lagi. Noong 2004, kahit may dayaan, at least sa polling precincts. Ngayong 2007, grabe na, sa sagingan na ang botohan," he said.

Another female witness said: "Para tumigil ang kalokohan (kaya kami lumabas). Kaming teacher ang kawawa, tapos wala kaming maano diyan. Kami, for the sake of the people. Kawawa ang tao na walang katapusan ang paghihirap nila."

The four witnesses appealed to media to hide their real identities to protect their families in Maguindanao.

Abdul said he could identify some of the armed men because they did not bother to hide their faces.

The witnesses said a friend, a known supporter of Lacson, arranged their coming out.

"Doon kami nagkita sa Davao," one of the witnesses said.

Abdul said their other colleagues who witnessed the election fraud are executing their affidavits and are also ready to come out.

He said it was expensive to bring them all in Manila.

Lacson said the surfacing of the four witnesses boosted his plan to file a petition to declare a failure of elections in Maguindanao province.

"They are going to appear before an executive session of Comelec to support my petition to declare failure of elections in Maguindanao. Worried lang sila sa safety nila," Lacson said.

The National Board of Canvassers (NBC) ordered the re-canvassing of the municipal certificates of canvass (MCOCs) of North and South Cotabato after their Provincial Election Supervisors (PES) failed to appear despite summons.

Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos ordered that new sets of provincial board of canvassers (PBOCs) for the two provinces be created after PES Lilian Radam (South Cotabato) and Yogie Maritzar (North Cotabato) could not be located.

Leila de Lima, counsel for Alan Peter Cayetano, said that the entries in the Koronadal City COC are different from the ones listed in the provincial statement of votes (SOV).

Among the affected candidates are Edgardo Angara (20,008 city COC; 30,008 provincial SOV), Joker Arroyo (16,697; 26,697), Michael Defensor (11,456; 21,456), Loren Legarda (37,711; 40,711), Vic Magsaysay (8,663; 18,663), Tessie Oreta (5,564; 15,564), Prospero Pichay (10,422; 20,422), Ralph Recto (14,506; 28,506), Tito Sotto (7,174; 17,174) and Juan Miguel Zubiri (21,813; 7,183).

The South Cotabato re-canvassing is set today. The PBOC is headed by Nelia Aureaus.

The date for the North Cotabato re-canvassing, headed by Jovencio Balanquit, has yet to be set.

Discrepancies were also manifested by opposition counsel in the COC of North Cotabato.

De Lima said the absence of Radam and Maritzar is an indication of guilt.

Rex Robles, counsel for Antonio Trillanes IV, said the two should be cited for contempt.

Romulo Macalintal, an administration lawyer, said they will not oppose any motion from the opposition as long as the allegations are supported by concrete evidence and a formal petition.

The NBC also set aside the controversial COC from Maguindanao after the members of the municipal Board of Canvassers (MBOC), who were summoned last Friday, failed to appear.

Abalos said the MBOC members, including Maguindanao provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol, might be culpable for contempt of court if they fail to explain their absence.

The NBC has also ordered the creation of a new set of provincial board of canvassers to determine whether the municipal certificates of canvass are still viable to be re-canvassed after the counsel for the opposition questioned and petitioned for the exclusion of the provincial board of canvassers. – With Gerard Naval
Related Links:

Where there’s smoke there’s fire
Lanao Del Sur Special Elections
Classic case of dagdag-dagdag
Philippine opposition warns of brewing crisis over vote-rigging allegations

Poll staff filled up Maguindanao ballots

Maguindanao 12-0 TU clean sweep is highly questionable. The old sayings, when there’s smoke there’s fire. Gloria Arroyo needs more certified TUTA (puppet) in the Senate like Defensor, Pichay and Zubiri. Most likely election manipulators are targeting Aquino, Alan Cayetano, Pimentel and Trillanes in dagdag-bawas scheme. Why the Abalos’ Comelec allow this to happen? Is the discredited NAMFREL part of the conspiracy? Battery of GO-UNO lawyers may not enough to guard the true mandate of the Filipino people. Continuous peoples’ vigilance against the cheaters until the last election return (ER) is counted. Ibasura ang mga bantay salakay-COMELEC at NAMFREL!

Int’l Observers Hit Fraud, Military Intervention in Philippine Polls

Poll staff filled up Maguindanao ballots

Daily Tribune 05/20/2007

The truth will always come out somehow and the truth about Team Unity’s 12-0 victory in Maguindanao, where TU senatorial candidate Luis “Chavit” Singson topped the Senate vote, is that there was no voting in Maguindanao, and worse, the ballots and the summary of votes were filled up by teachers assigned to man the polls and thumbmarked by children even before the scheduled polls.

A participant of the wholesale Maguindano vote fraud who turned whistleblower, exposed this wholesale election fraud yesterday in an interview over radio dzRH, baring that the voting was over even before the precincts were scheduled to open.

At the same time, the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) which works alongside the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and other watchdog groups, called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to speedily probe the 12-0 votes and suspend canvassing of poll results in areas that produced the 12-0 vote, the latest of which came from Bohol and reportedly, Eastern Samar, as claimed by TU.

Reports reaching the Lente network stated that it was the teachers who wrote out the names in the ballots in Mindanao while children were also used in the cheating operations to put in the thumb marks, which explains the very tiny thumbmarks found in some copies of the election documents in Mindanao.

The Lente charges appeared to have been substantiated by a participant in the cheating operations who turned whistleblower, baring all this during an interview over radio.

The teacher, who went by the alias of “Bai,” bared the wholesale electoral fraud in Maguindanao which resulted in a 12-0 vote for the administration TU bets.

She said the fraud was done a day before the polls, or May 13.

She recounted that she and her colleagues were ordered by Maguindanao Governor Ampatuan to fill out the ballots with the names of TU candidates which were handed to them in a list. These names, with Chavit Singson’s at the top of the list, followed by TU Prospero Pichay in second place, followed by 10 more from TU, were written down as ordered on the ballots prior to election day.

They were also ordered to copy the name of Ampatuan for the gubernatorial votes.

Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader former ARMM Gov. Nur Misauri is reportedly losing heavily in the ARMM regions (see related story).

Ampatuan is the current ARMM governor.

Bai claimed during that interview that there were only three of them filling up the ballots, saying in the vernacular that they signed some of the ballots but that most of these ballots were unsigned.

She also pointed out that she, along with her companions in the cheating operations, were brought to the safehouse to fill up these ballots.

Bai also stated during the radio interview that children were rounded up and brought to place their thumb marks on the ballots.

Lente issued an urgent call for the Comelec to stop the canvassing in all these areas where a claimed 12-0 TU vote occurred.

But Comelec officials appear to be reluctant to move, with commissioners even claiming that these allegations of fraud must first be substantiated.

The earlier response of Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento on the Maguindano vote was that the people should understand that the Muslims have a different culture and vote differently.

Yesterday, however, the Comelec ordered the poll officers in Maguindanao to release the Election Returns to the Namfrel volunteers, and directed AMM director Ray Sumalipao to order the same to the ARMM officers.

Earlier, the votes shaved off from two Genuine Opposition senatorial candidates, Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Alan Cayetano, both of whom lost 100,000 votes each, but which were restored the next day, Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos, Sr. claimed it was not evidence of dagdag-bawas fraud, but that these were merely “clerical errors.”

It was noted, however, that only the two GO candidates’ votes were shaved and the Comelec commissioners, acting as a national canvassing board, failed to clarify whether those lost votes were added to other candidates.

Abalos pointed out that the commissioners, reading the certifications of canvass (CoC) were those who noticed the discrepancy and immediately acted on it. “If you will see how we’re doing it here, it is a commissioner reading the number of votes being validated or audited by another commissioner and in case of a difference, immediately the attention of the one reading the certificate of votes is called by the other commissioner validating”, Abalos explained.

He added that the counsels of both candidates was already told of the finding of the tabulation board, and that they had no objections to the result of the verification.

Moreover, Abalos also explained that there are several reasons that affected the number of registered voters and precincts in Iloilo City.

The counsel of GO senatorial candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel pointed out yesterday, during the canvassing of the CoCs coming from Iloilo that there was a difference in the reports from the Comelec in the number of precincts and voters in the province.

“The number of voters he was referring to was under date of March,the elections, May. You have to consider transferees who were not located before. Number two, those discoveries of people who were already dead because of the reports that came in. Three, per order of the court those who were excluded, are now included. And those who were omitted by mistake in the list of voters, that accounts for the difference, I hope people will understand that these were not done to increase or decrease the number of registered voters”, Abalos said.

He added that the number of precincts decreased because these were clustered. He noted it would be impractical to have a separate precinct that only has 30 to 40 voters, so they were clustered to mother precincts.

The Comelec commissioners, through their spokesman, James Jimenez, also berated the international poll monitors’ groups, for claiming that massive fraud marked the 2007 elections before the media, yetthey never bothered to give the Comelec their report on the alleged fraud.

He challenged them to substantiate their charges of poll fraud, before claiming fraud.

But the international monitors have already shown, on television, the video clips of these instances of poll fraud.

For its part, Malacañang yesterday challenged GO to produce evidence that President Arroyo had a hand in an alleged vote shaving and padding in favor of the Team Unity’s senatorial candidates in Maguindanao province.

In phone interviews, both presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol and presidential legal counsel Gabriel Claudio castigated the GO camp.

Malacañang was irked over GO’s complaints that the Maguindanao 12-0 score in favor of TU was a result of a massive vote padding and shaving orchestrated by the Chief Executive.

“The President has not given any order to her men to engage in any form of cheating. Although it is true that the President gave an order for her Cabinet secretaries to campaign for her senatorial and congressional candidates in these elections, there were no orders for them to commit fraud or engage in any illegal moves,” Apostol claimed.

He challenged GO senatorial bet Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to produce evidence that the 12-0 victory in Maguindanao province was a result of Malacañang-initiated cheating operations.

“We’re challenging Lacson to come out with concrete evidence not just mere speech. How can they claim there had been cheating in Maguindanao when they don’t have any watchers, no local candidates there? Where did they get those malicious charges? They should stop dreaming and instead come out with a factual evidence,” Apostol added.

Apostol who is also a Lakas CMD regional director, an ally party of the President said they are always prepared to cooperate with the Comelec to prove that there was no cheating in Maguindanao.

“We’re open to any investigation and we would not interfere in any investigation to be done by the Comelec,” he said.

Lacson had specifically pinned Claudio as the “brain” behind the poll fraud allegedly on going.

But Claudio in a text message also yesterday defended the victory of TU in Maguindanao, in the midst of his earlier denial of engaging in electoral fraud.

“The victory of TU in Maguindanao does not mean GO candidates got zero votes in the province. It just means the electorate there favored all 12 candidates of the administration ahead of any GO candidate. Given the political culture and leadership pattern in Maguindanao, a 12-0 win for TU in the area is plausible. It is probably no more than the exercise of a shared political stand expressed through a bloc vote, as explained by provincial leaders and residents themselves,” he said.

“Nevertheless, any questions regarding the election results in the province can and should be resolved through the regular mechanisms provided by law under the supervision of Comelec,” he added. Kristine V. Torres, Sherwin C. Olaes and Tribune wires