Chiz Escudero: Prosecute The Cheats
Senatorial candidate Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Sunday asked the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to look into the alleged manipulation of the electoral process in Maguindanao and other provinces.
Even as he expressed satisfaction over the timely correction of the discrepancy in the certificate of canvass in Zambales, Escudero asked COMELEC to prosecute those who manipulated the electoral process in other provinces like Maguindanao.
The certificate of canvass of Zambales shows Escudero and Allan Peter Cayetano each getting 100,000 fewer number of votes than what they actually did, but COMELEC said the mistake was unintentional.
Escudero advised COMELEC to prosecute those who prevented NAMFREL and PPCRV volunteers from entering the Maguindanao provincial capitol in Sharif Aguak, were the votes were being tabulated.
He said whoever made that decision—and it could only come from somebody clearly in charge—had only one intention in mind: to allow unhampered work to doctor the results. In the first place, he added, tabulation of the votes should be done in the precincts, not in the capitol.
According to Escudero putting a stop to “this shameless manipulation of the people’s will is more important than who won or lost in that province.” He explained the practice is tolerated, even encouraged by whatever party in power to dilute the gains of the opposition elsewhere.
“It has been institutionalized as an insurance against the day when opposition candidates make a sweep of the elections,” he said. “In the just concluded senatorial elections, the administration, on the strength of the stolen votes, could dislodge the opposition tailenders and substitute its own candidates.”
He expressed disappointment over attempts to stonewall the issue, saying “the show-me-proof stance is reminiscent of a cop who demands of the family of a murder victim to come up with evidence.”
“Isn’t it the job of law enforcement authorities to gather the evidence and bring the culprit to justice?”
He said the 12-0 victory of administration candidates should be enough to raise alarm bells. He added attributing the sweep to the so-called “culture of tribal groups,” who supposedly vote as a bloc on orders of their leader, is a disrespect to the inherent intelligence of people.
source: http://www.genuineopposition.com
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Chiz is all talk, he thinks that the administration has the monopoly on cheating, but let’s not be so naive as to think that the opposition is all innocent either.
@Hindiakopinoy, If you can point us to any cheating machinery that has been utilized for the gain of the opposition, then by all means point it out to us.
But the political tactics that the Administration has used is there for us to see. The Maguindanao vote, the rewarding of local officials with P1 million pesos in order to deliver a 12-0 victory, the installation of Bedol and Sumalipao, the political harassment of Cayetano, the media blackout versus Trillanes, the refusal of COMELEC officials to give NAMFREL its sixth copy in Maguindanao — these are all documented and being reported.
If you can tell me of a mass attempt of the opposition to do the same, then I will consider your comment legitimate.
Obviously HindiAkoPinoy has been secluded from the rest of the country or else he wouldn’t have made that kind of remark.
The statement that Chiz has made is one that should be made, I hope everyone understands thought that what HindiAkoPinoy is probably saying is that there is cheating on every level no matter what party. I think the cheating is done on a case by case basis, but not on the grand scale that Gloria Administration seems to have made it. Although they are still allegations, it is just too obvious. And as Nick says, the opposition does not seem to have mounted such a mass attempt of cheating.