Poll tribunal dismisses
Loren protest vs Noli Says revision would not affect
margin,
Legarda abandoned case when she ran
BY EVANGELINE DE VERA
THE Supreme Court, sitting as the
Presidential Electoral Tribunal, yesterday dismissed and
terminated the election protest filed by Sen. Loren Legarda
against Vice President Noli de Castro for failure to
sufficiently prove her claim of fraud.
In a 20-page resolution penned by Senior
Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, the tribunal dismissed
for lack of legal and factual basis the first aspect of
Legarda’s protest involving the correction of errors of the
certificates of canvass and election returns.
The SC said "the pilot-tested revision of
ballots or re-tabulation of the certificates of canvass would
not affect the winning margin of the protestee in the final
canvass of the returns, in addition to the ground of abandonment
or withdrawal by reason of protestant’s candidacy for, election
and assumption of the office Senator of the Philippines."
ARMED Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon
Jr. yesterday said there is an ongoing effort to recruit
officers and men for a destabilization move, and its financiers
are being identified.
Esperon refused to identify the recruiters
and the units being targeted but said these units are the
"favorites" of those who are involved in the destabilization
move.
A number of officers from the Marines and the
Army’s First Scout Ranger Regiment figured in the supposed power
grab attempt in February 2006 and the November 29 standoff at
the Manila Peninsula Hotel.
PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday assured the
international community that democracy under her administration
is strong and that she is determined to stamp out political
violence.
Arroyo in a vin d’honneur told diplomats that
cases of violence against political activists and journalists
have dropped by 83 percent since the Melo Commission was created
in 2006 and its recommendations followed.
"While we are pleased with the progress, we
will not be satisfied until every last incidence or violence has
stopped and every criminal prosecuted and behind bars. We must
stop the legacy of violence and start the era of political
harmony," she said.
