Ducky Paredes

“(O)ur revising team composed of competent lawyers and expert revisers have initially uncovered 114,000 highly questionable and irregular ballots which would bring our present recovery to an initial vote gain of 134,000.”

by Ducky Paredes

Let’s face it, If Gloria had said that she would not stay a second after her legal term, no one would have believed her.
Even if she had said that she hoped that the form of government would be changed during her term to parliamentary from the present presidential and that she would be running for a position in parliament, still there would be doubts about what her true intentions are.
Thus, we deserve the answer that she gave all of those who were telling her to tailor her speech to their own ends. The Archbishop of Manila had no call to tell her to admit the errors of her ways and those of her administration, Clearly, the Cardinal crossed into dangerous ground by breaching the separation between Church and State. Besides, imagine what a fool our President would be if she did as the Cardinal bade her do.
I don’t much like Gloria but she did defend the Presidency properly by calling on her critics and the opposition to look at themselves as they cast their aspersions at her. This was like Jesus writing in the sand in front of those who would throw a stone at the adulterous woman. Unluckily for Gloria and the rest of us, while the stone-casters in the New Testament were shamed into dropping the rocks in their hands, no such reaction of shame is possible any more with most of our politicians.
Hopefully, the next President will have the sense to take the circus out of the SONA and stick to the business at hand. Frankly, I do not see the State of the Nation Address of a president as an occasion for women officials and the official wives for bringing out their expensive jewelry and decking themselves in backless floor-length gowns.
This is not a birthday party or a social event. It is government business and the mindset of officialdom should be such. We are a relatively poor nation and it really is in bad taste that our legislators and other officials will go to such an event decked out in such finery. In fact, I would think that the women and the children are better left at home instead of bringing them to the legislative building for the occasion.
As for the anti-government demonstrations that are scheduled for SONA day year after year, I am glad that the crowds have thinned out. Apparently, more of us have realized that marching in the streets on this day is a total waste of our time.
If changes will be made in governance, this cannot be achieved by marching in the streets. In fact, the better thing to do on SONA day would be to reflect on how the government is doing its job and also how we have been doing ours. Are we personally doing anything to move the country forward or, like those in government, have we also become slackers?
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We have a letter from Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri in answer to our column on the protest of Koko Pimentel claiming victory over the Senator in his electoral protest on the 2007 elections:
“I would like to clarify certain points in your column published last July 24,2009. But before I do so, let me inform you that both parties have a gag order from the Senate Electoral Tribunal about discussing the merits of the protest cases pending before it. However, I would just like to clarify issues you have raised as a reaction to the erroneous claims and attacks made by Atty. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.
“Any figures being claimed and brought out to media up to this point in time are premature, speculative and without basis by virtue of the fact that the figures being stated are not official findings covered by any ruling or promulgation of the SET as of this present date. Therefore the supposed gain of Mr. Pimentel of approximately 65,000 votes is totally erroneous and without any legal or factual basis.
“On Senate Electoral Tribunal Resolution 07-27: Nothing in the said resolution explicitly nullifies any ballot in the areas covered by the said resolution.
“With regards to the point that lawyers have the ability to stop the clock, I just would like to make it clear that my legal counsels are just following the legal procedures as provided and granted by existing laws.
“Now to air my side of the story. In my counter-protest, we have initially discovered that Mr. Pimentel had a net lost of 17,000 votes due to the fact that when his name was read, this did not tally with the number of ballots and election returns. Further, our revisers have initially discovered thousands of spurious ballots in several cities in the National Capital Region. These findings will be included when we present our counter-evidence before the tribunal.
“To correct the impression that I only gained 98 votes from the 18,316 precincts I have identified in my counter-protest, let me state that our revising team composed of competent lawyers and expert revisers have initially uncovered 114,000 highly questionable and irregular ballots which would bring our present recovery to an initial vote gain of 134,000 as part of the first 25 percent of our counter protest.
“May I reiterate, an election protest that hears only one side is no election protest at all, especially if there is a counter protest. For the record, the present status is that we are only in the 25 percent of our counter protest. If Koko was allowed to revise the 100 percent of his protested areas why should we be denied the same?
“Only when we do a complete count can we see the picture. There were also syndicates operating in NCR and other areas of the country working for a full opposition sweep in the 2007 election. It is my hope that the points that I have raised can be used to further clarify this issue to your readers.”
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This is the reason why I have given Migs the space to air his views – so that the reader will have a better understanding of what is going on. Of course, the senator is correct. There are always two sides to any dispute.
Now, can the two of them – Migs and Koko – agree to speed up the process so that we can all get to the real winner in that election? In fact, perhaps, the process can be speeded up to the point where no protests should still be pending a year after any election. It may be forgivable for national offices such are those for the senators, the Vice President and the President. But, even for congressmen who are elected by electorates of only a few hundred thousands, the work of our electoral tribunals borders on the ridiculous.

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hvp 07.28.09)