Results of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) recount of votes for newly proclaimed Senator Aquilino Pimentel III prove that massive cheating marred the 2007 elections, an official of the tribunal said Thursday.
After Pimentel’s proclamation in Pasay City on Thursday, SET Secretary Irene Guevarra told reporters “just the fact that there were many spurious ballots is an indication of electoral fraud."
Deliberating on Pimentel’s electoral protest, the tribunal found more than 250,000 fake ballots from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Lanao del Norte, said Guevarra.
The spurious ballots did not have security markings, such as watermarks and ultraviolet spots, but were included in the official count four years ago, the SET secretary said.
The SET decision also said a single person accomplished some ballots as shown by consistent and similar handwriting. Other ballots, meanwhile, had two distinct handwritings — proof that two people filled up single ballots.
Guevarra said the electoral tribunal plans to turn over the results of Pimentel’s case to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“I think in the meeting this afternoon there was a suggestion that the tribunal prepare a resolution endorsing all these findings to the pertinent government agency so that the appropriate action may be taken against whoever may be responsible for this electoral fraud," Guevarra said.
The DOJ and the Comelec have constituted a joint panel that will investigate the massive cheating that supposedly marked the 2004 and 2007 elections to determine those responsible for what had happened. — ELR/VS, GMA News
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