Lim naghain ng suspensiyon, DQ vs Erap

HINILING ni dating Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim sa Commission on Elections (Comelec) ang pagsuspinde sa proklamasyon kay dating Pangulong Joseph Estrada bilang alkalde ng Maynila, ideklara siyang diskuwalipikado at magbuo ng special board of canvassers para sa pagsasagawa ng recanvassing sa resulta ng bilangan sa mayoralty race sa May 9 elections sa lungsod.

Sa ‘urgent motion to suspend’ sa nasabing proklamasyon, hiniling din ni Lim, sa pamamagitan ng kanyang mga abogado na sina Renato dela Cruz at Salvador Moya, sa Comelec na ipawalang-bisa ang proseso ng board of canvassers at iproklama ang nanalo base sa resulta ng canvassing na isasagawa ng special board of canvassers.

Ayon sa mosyon, noong Mayo 10, 2016, sa kabila ng mga iregularidad at hindi pagsunod sa mga probisyon ng batas sa canvassing at pag-iral ng COMELEC Resolution kaugnay sa isyu, iprinoklama ng City Board of Canvassers (CBOC) si Estrada bilang panalo sa eleksiyon para sa posisyon ng pagka-alkalde ng Maynila ‘based on the incomplete Certificate of Canvass.’

“The fact that a candidate illegally proclaimed has assumed office is not a bar to the exercise of such power. It is also true that as a general rule, the proper remedy after the proclamation of the winning candidate for the position contested would be to file a regular election protest or quo warranto. This rule, however, admits of exceptions and one of those is where the proclamation was null and void. In such a case, i.e., where the proclamation is null and void, the proclaimed candidate’s assumption of office cannot deprive the Comelec of the power to declare such proclamation a nullity,” pahayag nina Dela Cruz at Moya.

Anila, kumuha si Estrada ng 1,022 Job Order (JO) employees, pawang itinalaga sa Manila Department of Social Welfare (MDSW) na bagama’t walang ginawang public service sa City of Manila, ay tumanggap ng sahod na P5,000 kada buwan. Ang 1,022 JO employees aniya ay tinanggap noong Enero 2016 at ang kanilang kontrata ay magtatapos sa Hunyo 30, at pawang Manila residents ng Districts 1 hanggang 6.

“While it was in the guise of helping the MDSW of Manila, the act of respondent Estrada was in gross violation of the provision of Section 261(a) of the Omnibus Election Code,” dagdag sa reklamo.

Noong Mayo 18, 2016, naghain si Lim ng Petition for Disqualification and Annulment of Proclamation. Ang mga respondent sa kaso ay si Estra at mga miyembro ng city board of canvassers (CBOC) ng Manila, kabilang sina city election officer Anthonette Aceret, City Prosecutor Edward Togonon, at City Schools Superintendent Wilfredo Cabral.

Ang ‘petition to disqualify’ ay base sa anila’y  massive vote-buying na naganap noong May 9, 2016 elections, habang ang hiling na ‘annulment of proclamation’ ay dahil sa illegal na canvassing ng mga boto ng city board of canvassers.

Saad sa reklamo, hindi tinupad ng CBOC members ang kanilang tungkulin ayon sa mandato sa ilalim ng Resolution No. 10083 dahil hindi sila nag-canvass sa pamamagitan ng electronically-transmitted Election Returns, kundi itinuon ang kanilang panahon sa pag-upload ng SDs na pisikal na dinala sa canvassing venue.

Hindi rin humiling ang CBOC ng kapalit o substitution para sa CCS machine, kung talagang walang signal, sa canvassing venue. Makaraan piliin ang Rizal Memorial Coliseum bilang canvassing venue, dapat sinubukan muna ang signal bago isinagawa ang canvassing dahil mayroon pa namang panahon para gawin ito.

“It is hardly believable that there was no signal in the canvassing venue which accounts for the CCS’ failure to receive the electronically transmitted ERs, considering that every now and then, games in the Rizal Memorial Complex are aired in radio and television, nationwide and worldwide with good signal and reception. How come then, in such an important political exercise of electing the City’s officials, the signal in the Rizal Memorial Coliseum suddenly went kaput? This glitch never occurred when the canvassing was held in 2010 and 2013 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, which is only few hundred meters away from the Rizal Memorial Coliseum,” saad sa mosyon.

Binanggit nina Dela Cruz at Moya na nagsagawa ang kampo ni Estrada ng ‘massive vote-buying’ at ‘illegal disbursement’ ng public funds bago ang May 9 elections upang mapalakas ang kanyang kandidatura para makatanggap ng maraming boto.

Kabilang anila sa insidente ang 7,532 tablets na ipinamigay para gamitin  ng teaching and non-teaching personnel ng Manila at ng San Andres Sports Complex.

Ang isa anila ay food subsidy na ibinigay sa 150,000 senior citizens sa porma ng food items, na nagkakahalaga ng P350 ang kada bag, na ang kabuuang halaga ay aabot sa P52 milyon.

Ipinunto ng mga abogado, na noong May 9 election,

20 clustered precincts ang walang election returns (ERs), na makaaapekto sa resulta ng eleksiyon.

“It has to be noticed that while the Certificate of Canvass showed that there were 764,563 who actually voted, however, adding the votes received by all 11 candidates shows that only 734,641 voted for the mayor, thus, there were unaccounted votes of 29,922. It is unthinkable that 29,922 voters in the City did not vote at all for their mayor considering that this is a hotly contested position in any local elections,”  dagdag sa reklamo.