HINDI na ikinagulat ng kampo ni dating senador Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., ang posisyon ng Commission on Elections (Comelec) na nagpahayag ng pagtutol sa 50-percent shading rules sa ginagawang pagrebisa ng mga boto sa 2016 vice presidential race ng Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).
Sa pahayag ni Atty. Vic Rodriguez, tagapagsalita ni Marcos, sinabi nito na ang naturang pahayag ng Comelec ay nagpapakita ng malinaw na pakikipagsabwatan ng poll body sa kampo ni Vice President Leni Robredo.
“We are not at all surprised with the Comelec position. The conspiracy is so clear and the co-conspirator is not expected to admit it,” ayon kay Ro-driguez.
Iginiit pa nito na ang pangunahing layunin ng inihain nilang election protest ay kuwestiyunin ang Comelec, sa ilalim ng pamumuno ni dating chair-man Andres Bautista, kung paano naisagawa ang umano’y dayaan noong halalan, pabor sa kampo ni Robredo.
“The purpose of the election protest is primarily to question how the Comelec, then under the tutelage of the disgraced and impeached Andres Bau-tista, have misconducted the election, undertaken a false canvassing and manipulated the transmission of results in favor of Mrs. Robredo,” pahayag pa ni Rodriguez.
“By Comelec’s own admission that it is only the Supreme Court, sitting as the Electoral Tribunal, that has sole and exclusive jurisdiction to try and decide cases involving the qualification, election and returns for the position of Vice President, it had effectively divested itself of any legal standing to rule on any matter pending before the PET,” aniya pa.
“As it was made suspiciously four months after the May 2016 elections and as an after thought in support of Robredo’s belated assertions, Come-lec’s position on the threshold percentage is not only patently illegal but at best meant to justify the cheating done to favor Mrs. Robredo and sway the public opinion to generate support on her continuing attempt to cheat even more,” dagdag pa nito.
Nauna rito, sa isinumiteng posisyon ng Comelec sa PET, sinuportahan nito ang hiling ng kampo ni Robredo na 25-percent shading threshold lamang ang gagamitin sa recount ng mga balotang ipinrotesta sa naganap na May 9, 2016 vice presidential election.
“To reiterate, for purposes of the 09 May 2016 National and Local Elections, Comelec, in order to ensure that votes are not wasted due to inadequate shading or that not accidental or unintended small marks are counted as votes in order to reflect the true intent of the voter, had set the ballot shading threshold at 25 percent,” nakasaad sa isinumiteng komento ng Comelec.
Iginiit pa ng Comelec na alinsunod sa kanilang kapangyarihan sa ilalim ng Konstitusyon, hindi lamang ang pagpapatupad ng eleksiyon ang kanilang trabaho kundi sila rin ang nagdedesisyon sa anumang kuwestiyong may kinalaman sa halalan.
Ang naturang posisyon ng Comelec ay iba naman sa posisyon ng Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), na sumuporta naman sa 50-percent threshold na pabor kay Marcos.
Sa kasalukuyan ini-a-apply ng PET ang 50-percent threshold sa manual vote recount, kung saan iginiit ng kampo ni Robredo na maaaring magresulta ito ng “massive disenfranchisement” ng mga boto at maaaring hindi kilalanin sa isinasagawang recount.
Ang OSG dapat ang magiging abogado ng Comelec pero iginiit nito ang pagiging independent sa isyu ng naturang threshold.
Nagsumite rin ito ng manifestation with motion sa halip na magkomento kung saan sinabi nito na rasonable ang 50-percent threshold. ANA ROSARIO HERNANDEZ
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