Raps poised vs envoys

MANILA, Philippines - Former assemblyman Homobono Adaza yesterday vowed to file charges against US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. and Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly conspiring to “proclaim” leading presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as the duly elected president of the Philippines.

Adaza said Thomas’ and Liu’s visits to Aquino at his residence on Times street in Quezon City practically meant proclaiming him as the new president.

“I will file similar charges against other foreign diplomats who will visit Noynoy. If they want they may invoke diplomatic immunity later,” Adaza told reporters during the Broadcasters’ Forum at Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City.

Thomas called on Aquino at his residence last Friday while Liu and Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura visited him yesterday.

Adaza insisted that the recent elections were irregular, thus, any proclamation of supposedly winning candidates would be illegal.

But Liu, for his part, said, “I don’t see any point why I should not pay a visit to the senator” even when he was not yet proclaimed. The Japanese ambassador said he came to personally congratulate Aquino and that his government would be awaiting his proclamation.

Adaza said that among the issues that put a doubt on the legality of the election is the lack of signatures on the statement of votes transmitted by the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

He said a failure of election might be declared and the remedy would be to call for another election, but also added that since the National Board of Canvassers has already convened, it is up to them to determine if the elections were in accordance with certain constitutional provisions and with the automated election law.

Adaza added that there would be no constitutional crisis even if no president and vice president will be proclaimed before June 30 because the Senate President will take over as the head of government as provided by the 1987 Constitution.

‘Fishing expedition’

In a related development, Aquino accused the people alleging there was cheating in the last elections of going on a “fishing expedition,” especially those from the administration who were only making noise now after losing in the polls.

Aquino said all allegations must be backed by hard evidence or be dismissed so as not to delay the canvassing being done by Congress as National Board of Canvassers. 

Aquino said his partymates were monitoring the developments in Congress and would see to it that it would go as scheduled.

“What I managed to observe, but this may seem self-serving, the allegations again are more on the level of a fishing expedition rather than the presentation of solid evidence that would buttress all of the allegations,” Aquino said.

Aquino said he himself had questions on the actual results of the elections since they did not accurately reflect the last surveys showing he could post a lead of as much as eight million votes over his rival in second spot. With Aurea Calica