Pampanga governor sets contempt raps vs Comelec official

SAN FERNANDO, Pam­panga – Gov. Eddie Panlilio’s lawyer is preparing contempt charges against the provincial chief of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here for pre-empting the Supreme Court’s action on the electoral case filed by defeated gubernatorial candidate Lilia Pineda by ordering the transfer of 4,847 ballot boxes in 20 towns to Manila for a recount.

Lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr., Panlilio’s legal counsel, told The STAR that Comelec provincial officer Temmie Lambino has summoned Panlilio and Pineda to a meeting at 10 a.m. next Tuesday to pave the way for the transmittal of the ballot boxes to the Comelec warehouse on U.N. Avenue in Manila.

“We will file contempt charges against Lambino should he persist in this move, since our petition to the Surpreme Court for reconsideration of the Comelec decision favoring Pineda still has to be raffled off this Monday and is supposed to be tackled this Tuesday,” Francisco said.

Last Thursday, Francisco filed before the SC a petition for certiorari urging the Court to review and set aside the decision of the Comelec’s Second Division on July 23 last year and the Comelec en banc decision last Feb. 6 upholding the verdict which favored Pineda’s claim that Panlilio cheated in last year’s gubernatorial polls.

The petition also sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the transmittal of the ballot boxes from 20 towns of Pampanga to Manila for a recount.

In the petition, Franciso said the Comelec acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in favoring the electoral protest filed by Pineda.

Francisco said that apparently, Lambino ordered the transfer of ballot boxes on the basis of a copy of the Feb. 6 decision of the Comelec en banc which was furnished him as he was also a respondent in Panlilio’s appeal.

“What I understand is that he has not yet received an official copy of the en banc decision, yet he has already set a meeting with Panlilio and the other party to pave the way for the transfer of the ballot boxes. This is contemptuous of the Supreme Court where our appeal remains pending,” Francisco said.

Lambino could not be reached for comment yesterday, but during an interview last Wednesday, he said he would not order the transfer of ballot boxes until he had received an official order from the Comelec central office.

He said he would first meet with both Panlilio and Pineda before the boxes are moved to Manila.

In Panlilio’s appeal to the Supreme Court, Francisco questioned the timing of the initial Comelec verdict against Panlilio and Pineda’s payment of P4,000,886 to the poll body to cover vote recount expenses.

The petition recalled that on July 31, 2007, Panlilio filed his 39-page Motion for Reconsideration of the Comelec second division’s initial July 23 decision favoring Pineda.  It noted that to their great surprise, Panlilio’s lawyers received notice that their motion for reconsideration was junked the following day, Aug. 1.

“Considering the manner and haste with which his (Panlilio’s) motion for reconsideration was disposed of, he cannot help but be greatly concerned,” the petition said.

The petition also noted that the alleged haste in dismissing the appeal  was made worse by Pineda’s payment of the P4,000,886 to the cash division of the Comelec on the same day “to defray  the expenses for the revision of the contested ballots.”

Francisco noted that Pineda was issued Comelec official receipt No. 2426360 dated Aug. 1, 2007  which, on its face, shows that what private respondent deposited to the Cash Division of the public respondent Comelec was a check payment, i.e., MBTC Check No. 4750004290 dated 31 July 2007.

Panlilio noted that the dates surrounding the payment signify “ that even before public respondent Comelec (Second Division) could resolve petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration on 1 August 2007, private respondent already issued a check for the amount of P4,000,886.00 to pay for the expenses of revision.