‘Elected pro-Poe officials bracing for gov’t backlash’

Elected local officials who supported defeated Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. are bracing for a likely "backlash" from the Arroyo administration, a member of the KNP executive committee said yesterday.

"They are bracing themselves already for the backlash that could come in several forms," said KNP member Lito Anzures, spokesman for KNP executive committee chairman and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay.

Binay quoted former President Corazon Aquino as saying that "there would be no reconciliation without truth and justice," during the proclamation of Mrs. Arroyo as the 14th president of the Republic on June 24.

Aquino is a close personal friend of Binay, having helped save the life of her son, Noynoy, who had been wounded in one of several coup attempts against the Aquino administration.

Binay and several other key KNP officials have been lukewarm towards Mrs. Arroyo’s call for reconciliation.

Anzures said the backlash expected by local officials affiliated with the KNP includes the possible withholding of their internal revenue allotments (IRA).

He also said there is the possibility that old graft cases against Binay may be revived or new ones will be "manufactured" by the President’s allies.

The Arroyo administration, he said, "would want to put these elected officials on the defensive." He added that it would not be surprising if Binay and other prominent local officials identified with the opposition would be slapped with suspension orders.

While rich local government units (LGUs) like Makati City, the City of Manila and Quezon City might be able to ride out the delayed release of the IRA and other funding from the national government, less wealthy LGUs headed by opposition-backed local officials may have to suffer through an artificially created lack of funds, Anzures said.

He also said he expects the local officials affiliated with the opposition to be excluded from the "division of spoils" as well.

"Getting a big CDF (community development fund) from the government? Forget it," he said. "They might even be made to wait. The LGUs may also be made to wait for their IRAs."

Nevertheless, these local officials are prepared to protect themselves from the backlash they may face, he said.

"We have proven our adherence to the rule of law," he said. "We will exhaust all legal remedies if this happens."

Meanwhile, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. asked the opposition, led by Poe, to pursue the filing of charges against and prosecution of election officials and other personalities allegedly involved in what the KNP said was massive and systematic vote-shaving and padding that benefited President Arroyo in the May 10 elections.

Pimentel said there are strong grounds for Poe to file an electoral protest and warned Poe to be prepared for a protracted and costly battle, since the Arroyo administration will use all the resources and powers at its command to thwart any attempt to unseat the President.

"I have always said that is solely and absolutely within (Poe’s) control. If he would file an electoral protest, that’s okay. If not, that is up to him," Pimentel said.

One advantage of filing an electoral protest, he said, is that Poe would be able to present all the evidence he has gathered to back his charges of massive poll fraud against the Arroyo administration.

"Even if the case may not be settled within a span of six years, this would provide the opportunity for the truth to come out, particularly on the fabricated certificates of canvass," he said.

Pimentel said he understands why Poe’s lawyer, Sixto Brillantes, has advised the actor not to file an electoral protest.

Pimentel’s protest before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) in connection with the vote-shaving and padding that he said caused him to lose in the 1995 elections and which favored former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile had not yet been resolved when he ran for and won a Senate seat in the 1998 elections. Pimentel and Enrile both ran for the Senate under the KNP banner in the May 10 elections.

"But even my electoral protest was inconclusive," he said. "I won some of the cases I filed against election supervisors, fiscals and school superintendents who served on the board of canvassers against whom I filed criminal and administrative charges for involvement in poll anomalies."

An election official in Pangasinan was convicted of the charges, while some of the lawyers Pimentel sued were fined by the Supreme Court after he initiated disbarment proceedings against them.

He also said a number of the cases he filed are still pending before the courts.

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), he said, is not the only legal channel through which Poe and the opposition can conduct their fight against election scams.

"My suggestion is let us run after the election cheats by availing (ourselves) of existing legal avenues," Pimentel said. "It can be with the PET. It cannot be with the courts, as well as the Commission on Elections (Comelec)."

He earlier filed criminal charges against members of the municipal board of canvassers in Bacolor, Pampanga who are allegedly responsible for the illegal deduction of 5,327 votes from his vote count in the town.

He said he was credited with 6,030 votes in Bacolor but, when the statement of votes submitted by the municipal board of canvassers to the provincial board of canvassers, the zero at the end of his vote count was deleted, so that it appeared as if he had only gotten 603 votes.

"What is important is we can send the message to our people," he said. "We will not allow the election anomalies to be just disregarded or forgotten. We will not allow the perpetrators of these anomalies to go unpunished."

While the KNP cried foul over what it called massive and systematic cheating in the May 10 elections, the opposition coalition had not presented any evidence to buttress their claims.

There were also several areas in various municipalities and provinces where the KNP had no pollwatchers or lawyers present during the canvassing of votes at the local level.

In some areas where the opposition coalition claimed to have been cheated, pollwatchers and KNP legal representatives were present and they not question the statements of vote or election returns and approved the same documents by signing them.

On June 24, Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin, a member of the opposition, said in his three-minute speech at the plenary session’s vote on the report of Congress’ joint canvassing committee that "there was no cheating" as he gave a suprise "yes" vote for the approval of the report.