Atienza claims win while Lim, Bagatsing join forces against him

The somber Manila canvassing of votes since the May 14 polls, exploded yesterday with a petition for its halt, a mass walkout, late -coming election returns, heated exchanges between opposing lawyers - and amid it all, Mayor Lito Atienza declared his victory.

Tension was at unprecedented height at the Ninoy Aquino Memorial Stadium in Malate yesterday after the camps of former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and former Rep. Amado Bagatsing, both trailing Atienza in the unofficial count, coalesced to seek a stop to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) count.

"There have been massive frauds and we have evidence to prove it, that is why we are filing our petition for a stop to the Comelec count," said Lim’s spokesman lawyer Rafaelito Garayblas.

The five-page joint petition, however, took no less than an hour to be dismissed by the three-man Comelec-Manila board headed by lawyer Emilio Santos.

The dismissal prompted some leaders of Lim and Bagatsing to walk out of the canvassing only to hurry back inside after some ballot boxes were brought in as they were on their way out.

"Why is it that only after eight days after the election that these ballots were brought in? Were they making the City Treasurer’s Office (from where the ballots were kept) the receiver of these election returns?" Garayblas asked.

Garayblas said they will ask the Comelec central office to reverse Comelec-Manila’s ruling.

But Manila senior election officer Lea Alarkon came to the defense of Comelec-Manila, saying they knew all along that the 20 ballot boxes, containing election returns, were kept at the City Treasurer’s Office after some teachers erroneously delivered them there.

"The question is whether the City Treasurer secured them (while in their office at the Manila City Hall)," said Alarkon.

Alarkon estimated that the 20 ballot boxes have a maximum vote volume of 5,000.

Alarkon also said the Comelec-Manila board’s decision to junk the petition was well considered.

Atienza, on the other hand, branded Lim and Bagatsing as "sore losers."

"They are just sore losers trying to create an issue where there is none," said a statement from the Atienza group.

Atienza virtually declared victory yesterday with a statement predicting "a landslide victory" for himself. The Atienza camp said that with more than half of Comelec counting complete, his lead over his closest pursuer, Lim is "insurmountable."

The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) also had Atienza with a comfortable lead over Lim when it halted counting last Saturday with less than 70-percent of the votes cast counted.

Except for some discrepancies in last Saturday’s Namfrel count, there were no changes in the number of votes and their rankings. – Jose Aravilla