Gil: I never proclaimed myself a winner

While he believes there was "a failure of elections," disqualifed presidential candidate Eddie Gil at least has the good sense not to declare himself president-elect.

In a statement issued yesterday, Gil said that unlike movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., he never proclaimed himself the winner of the May 10 elections.

"I have not proclaimed myself the winner, much less the new president of our republic," he said.

Gil cautioned Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos against using him in his "commentaries" against Poe.

"If the actor and my worthy rival, Mr. Fernando Poe Jr. has proclaimed himself the winner in the presidential, Mr. Abalos should have… zeroed in on (Poe) alone," he said.

In past interviews, Gil had said he was "1,000 percent" sure he would have won the elections had he not been disqualified by the Comelec.

But Gil said he had filed last May 13 "an omnibus motion before the Supreme Court" seeking, among other things, "the declaration of failure of elections."

"So far, I believe that I neither lost nor won in the elections, for I feel that there was a failure of elections," he said.

In his motion, Gil said Abalos and his fellow commissioners should not have removed his name from the list of presidential candidates as well as from the tally sheets since the Supreme Court resolution dated April 27 was not yet executory.

The resolution upheld the Comelec decision to disqualify Gil for being a nuisance candidate, who could not launch a nationwide campaign despite claims of having billions of dollars in funds.

On May 9, Gil said Abalos himself issued urgent media advisories, including paid advertisements, indicating that the SC had already ruled with finality on his disqualification.

"I considered such acts on the part of Comelec officials, especially Abalos, as ‘foul’ and hitting below the belt," he said. "I honestly believe that I had 15 days within which to file my motion for reconsideration, which I did on May 13th."

The statement cited the case of former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr,. who had a disqualification case with the SC during the election day and the tallying and canvassing of votes. But it said the SC finally declared him qualified and winner in the November 1967 polls.

"Since my case is still pending with our High Court, I am not at liberty to discuss the merits of the case. I wish Mr. Abalos and, for that matter, anyone else, would do the same — stop commenting about me and stop putting words into my mouth," he said.