GMA, Noli call Poe, Legarda election protests ‘baseless’

President Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro asked yesterday the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to dismiss the electoral protests of Fernando Poe Jr. and his running mate Loren Legarda for being "baseless."

The country’s two highest officials also said that Poe and Legarda should have filed their petitions before the Commission on Elections, not the PET since they were complaining about a failure of elections through massive fraud.

The protests of Poe and Legarda were also "insufficient in form and substance," Mrs. Arroyo and De Castro added.

In filing their answers and counter protests, Mrs. Arroyo and De Castro even accused Poe and Legarda of "cheating" them in "some areas."

Mrs. Arroyo again raised the issue of Poe’s citizenship, saying that he did not have the legal capacity to file the protest because his claim to being a Filipino remains questionable.

"It may be recalled that the issue of whether or not protestant Poe is a natural-born citizen was previously raised in cases filed before the Supreme Court," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said the Tribunal did not make any categorical pronouncement that Poe was indeed a natural-born Filipino citizen.

"Thus, the unresolved issue of whether or not protestant Poe is a natural born citizen has to be resolved by the Honorable Tribunal to determine whether or not protestant has a legal standing to institute the protest," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said Poe also failed to identify the precincts where the alleged fraud had been committed — a fatal omission in an electoral protest.

"It is readily apparent that protestant Poe merely speculates about the alleged irregularities maliciously stated in the instant protest in the vain hope that his fishing expedition would yield results," she said,

"Otherwise, he would be able to specify the precincts where the particular irregularities took place."

On the other hand, De Castro accused Legarda of "copying verbatim" the protest of Poe to the point that she claimed to have won the presidential elections.

"The cavalier attitude which protestant has adopted in preparing her position/protest is a direct insult to the electorate and to this Honorable Tribunal," he said.

"The fact that the protestant filed a pleading before this Honorable Tribunal with nary a glance to determine the sufficiency of the same is indicative of gross disrespect to the process she is invoking."

De Castro said since it was apparent that Legarda "did not read" her own protest, her verification should be declared void.

"The recurring reference of the petition/protest to the ‘President’ as well as the alleged massive election fraud led by ‘her’ shows the protestant merely hopped into the protest bandwagon in the mad prospect of reaping rewards for herself," he said.

De Castro said the reference to the President and not to him would have been excusable, had it been a clerical error, but that it was repeated over and over again.

"The repeated errors cease to be pardonable and becomes downright laughable, if not irritating, since it is a manifestation that protestant dared to misuse this Honorable Court’s power to sit as final arbiter for the presidential and vice presidential elections with a concocted protest," he said.

"Protestant should be reminded that her adoption of FPJ’s delusions will not automatically make them her own. More significantly, protestant’s espousal of FPJ’s accusations will not convert them to charges against protestee." — With Pia Lee-Brago