(NI BERNARD TAGUINOD)

NAGHAIN ng election protest si dating vice president Jejomar Binay sa House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) laban sa tumalo sa kanya noong nakaraang eleksyon na si Makati Rep. Romulo Pena.

Sa 70-pahinang election protest na inihain ng mga abogado ni Binay, hiniling ng mga ito na ipawalang bisa ang pagpoproklama ng Makati Board of Canvasser kay Pena noong Mayo 14.

Hiniling din ng kampo ni Binay na mano-manong bilangin ang boto sa 235 presinto sa unang distrito ng lungsod upang malaman ang totoong nanalo noong nakaraang May 13, election.

“The Congressional contest was marred by various manifestations of fraud, anomalies, irregularities and statistical improbabilities. Approximately 9,050 votes were disenfranchised to be Null/Misread Votes,” ayon sa ihinaing election protest ni Binay.

Maliban dito, inireklamo rin ng kampo ni Binay ang mga pumalpak na vote-counting machines (VCM) kaya maraming boto umano para kanya ang hindi nabilang.

Si Binay ay nakakuha ng 65,229 boto noong nakaraang eleksyon habang si Pena ay may 71,035 kaya ang huli ang iprinoklama ng Makati Board of Canvasser bilang nanalong kinatawan ng unang distrito ng Makati City.

Idinahilan din ng kampo ng dating bise presidente sa kanyang inihaing protesta ang kabiguan ng Commission on Election (Comelec) na mag-isyu ng kumpleto at certified true copies ng Statement of Votes (SOV)  sa 85sa 235 clustered precint.

“During the election campaign period and up to the election day itself, Binay and his party had been receiving reports from various sources that the team of Peña has been engaging in vote-buying practices in order to get more votes or to take away votes from him. The vote-buying perpetrated by Peña’s group involved the payment of P500 to P2,000 to voters for them to vote for their candidate or anyone else but Binay,” dagdag pa ng election protest ng kampo ni Binay.