Sonny O claims FPJ beat Glo

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lost the 2004 polls, according to former senator John "Sonny" Osmeña said yesterday.

The former lawmaker said Arroyo lost to Ferndando Poe Jr. by a margin of some 700,000 votes. "The number of votes that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo obtained in the province and cities of Cebu was not 1,185,000 as the official canvass would show but about 62,000 or 460,000 less," he said.

Osmeña, who had filed an election protest at the Senate Electoral Tribunal, said that based on the results of the screening conducted for the purpose of identifying the provinces where he is asking for a recount, said he has identified at least 10 regions and provinces where vote-padding occurred.

These are CAR, Pampanga and Tarlac, Region VI (Western Visayas), Region VII (Central Visayas), Camarines Sur, Albay and Masbate, Region III (except Northern Samar and Leyte), Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, CARAGA, and ARMM. He did not cite figures.

He said Arroyo obtained the biggest margins in Western and Central Visayas. Osmeña said these are the areas where vote padding was done.

But Osmeña said that historically, out of 10 voters about 8 and a half vote for the municipal candidates, six vote for provincial candidates, four vote for the presidential candidates, and 3 and a half vote for senatorial candidates.

"So when the votes obtained by all presidential candidates exceed the votes obtained by all provincial candidates, there is the possibility of an irregularity," he said.

Earlier, Osmeña said that he would use his election protest to check if Arroyo really won by a majority in Cebu, which allegedly gave her a winning margin of more than a million votes over her rivals.

There are only two election protests pending-former senator Loren Legarda's in the Presidential Electoral Tribunal and Osmeña's in the Senate Electoral Tribunal.

In the course of the protest, Osmeña said that the documents relevant to the case, the certificates of canvass of each province and cities would be examined. These COCs are the same documents used in the canvass for the results of the presidential election. He said that while not officially re-tabulated, it would be easier to conduct an informal re-canvass of the presidential results.

However, while many anti-Arroyo groups question if she won by majority in Cebu or not, election officials here said conducting a recount would be a waste because the same results would still surface.

Provincial election officer Edwin Candungog reiterated several times that there was no cheating in the province and he is ready to have the results examined any time.

Osmeña lately expressed his sentiments and joined the calls to investigate the alleged election fraud that happened in Cebu during the 2004 polls.

"If Arroyo got majority of the votes in Cebu, who tampered the canvass? And who benefited from it?" he said.

The former senator said that if proven that Arroyo won through fraud in Cebu, it would undermine "whatever is left of her mandate and it would heighten public dissatisfaction of her administration and would create bigger momentum for her impeachment."

He said that although he ran under the ticket of Arroyo, he was really not considered an ally because others were still being favored. - Wenna A. Berondo