Former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman and incumbent presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino on Friday claimed several ballot boxes in pilot precincts in Calbayog City, Samar contained ballots during the 2013 midterm elections.
"As per revision merong mga ballots na 2013 elections, we are referring to the 2016 elections. So kinukwestyon namin yun bakit yung laman nung iba is 2013 ballots," Tolentino said in an interview outside the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).
"Iba yung kulay ng 2013 ballots e at iba rin yung sine-shade na pangalan. 'Di naman ako kandidato nung 2013, wala ngang presidential elections noon. Paano nakasali yung 2013 sa 2016? Pagkatapos ng election inaalis na yun e unless merong (electoral) protest," he added.
Presidential adviser Francis Tolentino is here at the Senate Electoral Tribunal to monitor his poll protest vs Sen. Leila De Lima @gmanews
The SET started the manual recount of more than 600 ballot boxes on Wednesday as part of Tolentino's electoral protest against the victory of detained Sen. Leila De Lima.
Tolentino, who ran as an independent candidate, lost to then-candidate De Lima of the Liberal Party by more than 1.2 million votes for a spot in "Magic 12" winning candidates.
Tolentino said De Lima's lead is already doubtful since the gap between the 12th and 13th candidate is only around 40,000 votes, based in history.
"Kahit review-hin niyo physically, lahat ng labanan sa 12 to 13 ang lamangan diyan 40,000. Ngayon lang biglang nag-balloon ng one million," he said.
Tolentino also questioned why he received zero votes in several areas of Basilan -- Isabela City, Sumisip, and Tabuan-Lasa -- and Maguindanao -- Datu Sinsuat, Parang, and Matanog.
"For instance yung Maguindanao, province-wide I won so statistically improbable naman na may towns ka na zero when you won in the province," Tolentino said.
The former MMDA chief added that no votes were also tallied for him in Turtle Island, Tawi-Tawi.
Tolentino further said at least one polling precinct in Bocaue, Bulacan showed he led De Lima, who is detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center on drug charges, by at least 30 votes after the recount.
De Lima's side
Sought for comment, De Lima's lawyer, Teddy Rigoroso, told GMA News Online that it is only natural that clustered Precinct No. 8 of Calbayog City to contain 2013 ballots because the city treasurer submitted the wrong ballot box.
“What was given by the city treasurer was a ballot box for the 2013 elections and the contents were also for the 2013 elections. This was of no fault of De Lima because at the time of retrieval we already manifested that it may be a wrong box,” Rigoroso said in a text message.
Rigoro then affirmed that Tolentino received zero votes in several precincts in Maguindanao and Basilan. He, however, said De Lima also had zero votes in some of these areas.
He cited the one clustered precinct each in the towns of Datu Sinsuat and Matanog in Maguindanao, and Sumisip and Tabuan-lasa in Basilan where De Lima had zero votes.
Rigoroso said in areas where Tolentino garnered zero votes , De Lima received a total of 389.
As for Turtle Island, Rigoroso said Tolentino received zero votes in Clustered Precinct no. 4 where De Lima only had three votes.
Hybrid elections
Meanwhile, Tolentino said his electoral protest proves the flaws of the automated election system.
He said the government should instead implement a hybrid election system where the vote counting at the precinct level is done manually.
"Bahagi ng reklamo natin noon ay may failure talaga ang automated nun kaya nga ang sinusulong ko hybrid. Yung bilangan sa baba, sa presinto, ay dapat mano-mano," Tolentino said.
"Yung pag-submit sa canvass yun ang gawing automated hindi yung pure automated. Ang pilipino naman handang magpuyat para bilangin yung boto e. Binilisan nga natin yung accuracy naman hindi katanggap-tanggap sa iba," he added. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News
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