Pimentel: No opposition walkout

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel gave assurances yesterday there will be no walkout by his fellow opposition lawmakers from the joint congressional committee canvassing the presidential vote following a walkout Friday by lawyers representing opposition front-runner Fernando Poe Jr.

"We will not walk out. The opposition will stick it out to the very end. We will not give the administration the opportunity to railroad the proceedings," Pimentel told a press forum.

Lawmakers belonging to the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) should instead stay and assert their rights, Pimentel said. "We have to face the situation and abide by the majority. But we would still try to assert the rights of the minority."

Last Friday night, lawyers representing the KNP in the canvassing left the proceedings in protest over what they described as "harassment" by the administration.

The Department of Justice is investigating a complaint filed with the department by the Philippine National Police that KNP lawyers Rufus Rodriguez and Harriet Demetriou allegedly detained an election officer to force her into testifying on electoral fraud against the administration.

Rodriguez and Demetriou, along with retired police general Roberto Calinisan, Poe supporter Manny Portes, and a certain Malik, allegedly detained Tipo-Tipo, Basilan, municipal election officer Radja Rashma Hali and her daughter Fherdaoisa for 10 days. Rodriguez and Demetriou face charges of illegal detention and grave coercion. The KNP denies the accusations.

At the forum, Pimentel insisted that they have proof of massive cheating by the administration in last month’s elections. "But the majority (in the joint congressional committee) does not want the election returns opened. They are trying to bamboozle us, trample on our rights in order to prevent the truth from coming out," he said.

The Arroyo administration suspects the opposition is trying to delay the canvassing of the presidential vote and plans to install Poe via massive street protests. Arroyo allies in the committee have blocked opposition moves to scrutinize the election returns to ensure the canvassing proceeded without delay.

Pimentel said he has been trying to explain to the majority in the committee that the canvassing would not be delayed if the panel is allowed to scrutinize "not all but only a few" of the election returns to check the veracity of certificates of canvass being questioned by the opposition. The KNP claims the returns would show that Poe edged Mrs. Arroyo in the election.

Last week, Pimentel filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to stop the canvassing, arguing that it became illegal because Congress had already adjourned for the last time in June 11. He contended the committee could not exist beyond the life of the 12th Congress which created it.

The court has ordered the committee presiding officers, Sen. Francis Pangilinan and House Deputy Speaker Raul Gonzales, to submit a written comment on the petition by noon tomorrow. — With Jose Rodel Clapano