THREE Liberal Party (LP) members yesterday urged Mayor-elect Oscar Moreno to take Mayor Vicente Emano’s election protest seriously even as they warned against the latter’s call for a manual recount, saying they suspected it has something to do with the four mysterious boxes spirited away from the city treasurer’s office shortly before election day.
“I smell something fishy here. What were the real contents of the boxes?” asked Councilor-elect Teodulfo Lao.
Councilor Roger Abaday and Councilor-elect Zaldy Ocon said one of the boxes had a sheet of paper pasted on it showing the name of the addressee and her company.
A video grab shows the addressee’s name, one “Shirley Ostique” of a company called Philippine Duplicators Inc..
The firm sells state-of-the-art copiers and printers and is reportedly a supplier of the Advanced Science and Technology Institute, an information and communications technology research and development center under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
In the 2010 elections, DOST figured in a controversy following its regional director’s revelation that its technicians reconfigured flash cards of election machines here in the wee hours before election precincts in the city opened based on a memorandum issued by Commission on Elections (Comelec) executive director Jose Tolentino.
Lao said the fresh information about the sealed boxes allegedly taken from a storage for ballots in the treasurer’s office to the office of budget officer Griscelda Joson were “revealing.”
“There are more questions now,”said Lao. “One is, what’s a box sent to a private company selling copiers and printers doing inside the storage for ballots?”
Joson claimed the sealed boxes contained her old files and personal belongings. Despite the commotion that was caused by the mysterious boxes in the evening of May 6, she rejected requests for her to show their contents. The following day, she said she would only open the boxes if there was a court order.
Abaday and Ocon urged Moreno and citizens’ groups to be vigilant, saying they feared that the contents of the mysterious boxes could be used in case the Comelec granted Emano’s plea for a manual recount.
“Someone asked where Emano would get his lead? I’m afraid that the ‘magic boxes’ would provide the answer,” said Abaday.
Recount
Emano, meanwhile, called on the Comelec to immediately act on his election protest and immediately order a manual recount of all the ballots cast here during the May 13 elections.
Emano said that while he was aware that his election protest would take time to resolve, he remains hopeful that Comelec would act fast.
“Katungod ko kini nga mopasaka og protesta. Dunay daghan nga katingad-an sa milabay nga eleksyon. I already conceded after the result was read but with the latest development… this must be investigated,” he said.
Emano referred to the so-called “60-30-10” pattern of the election results that were noted by a former Comelec chairperson and head of a computer association.
He said he was among the local chief executives who were “victimized” as a result of the alleged “60-30-10” systematic cheating.
The pattern, he said, was 60 percent of election winners in favor of the administration Liberal Party, 30 percent for the United Nationalist Alliance and 10 percent for independent candidates.
He said the alleged election fraud was exposed in detail by experts during the television program “Diyos at Bayan” anchored by losing senatorial candidate Bro. Eddie Villanueva.
“Langan man kini kaayo pero gikinahanglan pud. Ang main reason is to determine what were the exact and fair results of the election. Mosuroy ta karon sa kadalan walay magtuo nga maparot ako,” he said.
Emano said he was also hopeful that the results of the elections would change here if the Comelec would order a manual recount of the ballots.
Emano also accused the administration party of resorting to massive vote-buying which, he said, would be proven.
He said there were also anomalies in the transmission of election returns and the Board of Election Canvassers did not follow protocol.
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