Electoral Protest
Pimentel filed the electoral protest to the SET on July 14, 2007 which covered 2,658 precincts, in the provinces of Maguindanao (1,078), Lanao del Norte (496), Shariff Kabunsuan (291), Basilan (134), Sultan Kudarat (282), Lanao del Sur (161) and Sulu (216). Zubiri then filed a counter-protest on 73,265 precincts.
On January 1, 2008, Pimentel made a statement that he now leads Zubiri by 12,000 votes after all ballot boxes from Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao to be empty: hence all votes for all candidates, including Pimentel's and Zubiri's were wiped out. Zubiri led Pimentel by 31,000 votes in that municipality. Zubiri's lawyers then stated that they will contest the exclusion of the votes from Sultan Kudarat, citing Lerias v. House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, where the Supreme Court allowed the use of other election documents when contested ballots are missing.
On March 14, 2008, the Supreme Court in a 40-page decision penned by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, dismissed Aquilino Pimentel III's petition to stop the Commission on Elections from canvassing votes from the province of Maguindanao, a definite morale booster for Senator Zubiri.
Pimentel issued another statement on July 2009 stating that he now has a 96,400-vote lead in the recount. Pimentel stated that 98.15% of the votes in the six of nine of Pimentel's pilot municipalities were spurious. Zubiri countered that since the SET allowed the revision of votes on Pimentel's protest, the same should also be done on his counter-protest. In his counter-protest that mostly Metro Manila, he said that while Pimentel has a 96,400 vote-lead in his protest, Zubiri's counter-protest has him leading by 132,014 votes in Metro Manila, a net lead of 17,913 votes for Zubiri.
After the 2010 Senate election, the SET with its new composition allowed Zubiri to expand the scope of his counter-protest. Pimentel appealed the decision, which allowed the scrutiny of 52,000 ballot boxes, a process that "could take more than six years," noted SET chairman Antonio Carpio who dissented on the decision. The vote was seen as political maneuvering in the then-upcoming election for the Senate President.
Read more about this topic: Pimentel Vs. Zubiri Electoral Protest
Famous quotes containing the words electoral and/or protest:
“Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“I take enormous pleasure every time I see something that I’ve done that cannot be wiped out. In some way ... I guess it’s a protest against mortality. But it’s been so much fun! It’s the curiosity that drives me. It’s making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.”
—Deborah Meier (b. 1931)