By Movement for Principled Politics in Pampanga and Citizen Journalists-Pampanga
PAMPANGA. —Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio said yesterday he will appeal to the Supreme Court the ruling of the Commission on Elections declaring his rival Lilia Pineda as the winner in the 2007 gubernatorial elections here.
“This is not a matter of saving a personality but a matter of saving Pampanga and the crusade for good governance,” Panlilio said.
He said he has yet to receive a copy of the Comelec resolution deciding in favor of Pineda’s petition for a recount of the 2007 election results in Pampanga, which he won by a slim margin of 1,147 votes.
Panlilio expressed surprise that the Comelec was still able to issue a resolution en banc at such a late hour “amid the chaos caused by glitches in the country’s first-ever automated elections.”
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV)-Pampanga, meanwhile, reiterated its earlier opinion declaring the 2007 elections in the province as clean, honest and accurate.
In an official communication sent to Comelec Chair Jose Melo, the local PPCRV reported its observations based on its monitoring of the 2007 elections and analysis of the results of the recount as contained in the resolution of the poll body’s Second Division.
The poll watchdog cited errors in calculation. It also questioned the application of the rule that election returns are the best evidence in the absence of ballots.
“Reading from the resolution, it appears that certain precincts were not subject to a recount because the ballots from these precincts were described as ‘wet’ or ‘burned’ (for example, there were ‘wet ballots’ from Arayat and ‘burned ballots’ from Mabalacat),” it said.
Based on the results of the recount process that showed Pineda with 190,729 votes as against Panlilio’s 188,718, the Comelec’s Second Division headed by Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer declared the former as the real winner in the 2007 elections in its Feb. 11 ruling.
Panlilio filed a motion for reconsideration, which the Comelec en banc denied upon review.
On Monday, Panlilio and Pineda will have a rematch outside the courts of law, leaving it up to their constituents to deicde the issue.