Panlilio’s lawyer hits Comelec decision on revision of ballots

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal questioned yesterday the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow a revision of ballots in the Pampanga gubernatorial race which priest-turned-politician Eddie Panlilio topped.

Macalintal said he finds “something fishy” in the poll body’s move and described allegations that Panlilio cheated in the May 14 elections as “disappointing and very disgusting.”

The Comelec junked the plea of Macalintal and other topnotch election lawyers who have offered their legal services to Panlilio for free, against the petition of former senior provincial board member Lilia Pineda, who lost to Panlilio by only 647 votes, to hold a revision of all votes cast in 4,487 precincts throughout the province.

The other election lawyers were Sixto Brillantes Jr., Leila de Lima, Pete Quadra, and Ernesto Francisco Jr.

Pineda, wife of Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda who was tagged as an alleged jueteng lord in past Senate hearings, claimed that Panlilio engaged in vote buying and that votes identifying her as “Nanay Baby” (as she had written in her certificate of candidacy) were not counted.

In a statement furnished The STAR, Macalintal said he suspected selfish motives in the Comelec decision, explaining that poll personnel to be tapped for the revision would get over P2.3 million on top of their regular pay.

He noted that under Comelec Resolution No. 02-0130 dated Sept. 18, 2002, the chairman of a revision committee gets an honorarium or compensation of an average P220 per single or clustered precinct, while the “recorder” receives an average of P100, and the typist and ballot box custodian, an average of P80.

This means that in revising the ballots from the 4,847 polling precincts, Pineda has shell out P2,326,560 for the Comelec personnel to be involved in the process.

Of the total amount, P1,066,340 would go to the heads of the revision panels in all the precincts, P484,700 to the recorders, and P387,760 to the typists and ballot box custodians. These amounts would be on top of their regular salaries, Macalintal said.

“In other words, while they are not doing their regular duties, they will earn additional compensation during the revision proceedings from the deposits made by the protestant and still be paid for their regular salaries although they are not doing their regular duties,” he said.

Macalintal urged the Comelec to review its policy in allowing the revision of ballots in protest cases, saying this is “detrimental” to poor winning candidates like Panlilio, “who won fair and square and who cannot afford to sustain the expenses involved in revision proceedings.”

Macalintal also noted that the electoral protest filed by Pineda’s lawyers was “copied verbatim (word for word)” from a mayoral protest case in Taal, Batangas. He described this as “not only very disappointing but also very disgusting.”

Macalintal added that what he found “equally condemnable” was the “apparent haste and apparent lack of due process” committed by the Comelec’s second division when its presiding commissioner, Florentino Tuason Jr., “in just one day and on his own” denied Panlilio’s motion for reconsideration on the revision of ballots.

“We filed Gov. Panlilio’s motion for reconsideration at 3:45 p.m. on July 31. And we were surprised that on the following day, Aug. 1, an order signed only by Commissioner Tuason, complete with a notice of order, was issued denying the said motion for reconsideration,” he said.

Macalintal said it was “very clear” that Panlilio was denied his right to be heard by the other commissioners of the second division and the other commissioners of the Comelec en banc who, under the poll body’s rules of procedure, have to decide on the motion for reconsideration.

He said there is also “something fishy with the haste and speed of directing the revision and recount of ballots” not only in Panlilio’s case but also in other election protest cases.

“Why are they in a hurry to revise these ballots? Who will really benefit from such a revision? Surely, it is not the protestant as the protest would not be decided by mere revision alone. Neither will it be the protestee who would also be forced to spend a substantial amount of money for the compensation of his own revisors,” he said.

“You can just imagine the amount involved in other protest cases now pending with the Comelec where revision proceedings are likewise ordered,” he added.

Macalintal said he and his fellow election lawyers are now busy preparing a petition for certiorari to be filed with the Supreme Court, with prayer for a temporary restraining order, to stop the revision of ballots.