INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

Pichay, Roco not about to concede defeat

INQUIRER.net

Maila Ager

MANILA, Philippines -- Unlike former presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor, fellow administration senatorial candidate Prospero Pichay and the opposition’s Sonia Roco are not about to concede defeat as they continue to question the alleged “irregularities” in the counting of votes by the Commission on Elections.

Defensor, who is number 15 in the senatorial race based on the latest tally of the Commission on Elections, conceded last Wednesday. Pichay is number 16 followed by Roco.

“Hintayin natin ang [Let’s wait for the] Mindanao votes and I’m from Mindanao,” Pichay said in a phone interview.

“Yung pag-concede naman ni Mike [Defensor’s nickname] hindi naman forfeiture yun. Kapag nanalo siya, balewala din yung pag-concede niya [Mike’s decision to concede does not mean forfeiture. If he wins, even if he had conceded, that would mean nothing],” Pichay said.

Though she said she was not yet “officially” conceding, Roco sent a text message to reporters, saying that she had finished the race “with grace.”

“We have finished the race with grace. We have won with dignity and honor. Humanly, I did my excellent best,” she said.

In a phone interview with INQUIRER.net though, Roco said she recognized that she was stuck at 17th place and would have to do so much catching up to be able to make it to the “Magic 12.” But she added that she was not conceding defeat the way Defensor had done.

“I’m not officially conceding because I still question the credibility of this election and conceding would mean that I’m accepting the results,” she said.

Besides, Roco said there was no need to hold a press conference to accept one’s defeat since this was not a presidential election.

Roco specifically questioned the fixed ranking of her fellow opposition candidates -- Loren Legarda and Francis “Chiz” Escudero -- who have been consistently at first and second, respectively, in the ongoing tally by the Comelec.

“What I notice is the results were like stuck up already. Parang nakapako na. Kung may nadagdag na boto kung saan mang probinsya, hindi man lang ba magbabago ang ranking nila? Buti pa yung mga nasa bababa, nagpapalit-palit ng puwesto [It’s like they have been stuck there. If there were votes added to their names from other provinces shouldn’t their rankings change? Those who are ranked lower have been changing positions],” she pointed out.

She also questioned the absence of “number of voters counted” in some official municipal tallies in Bicol, which could be the basis for deciding whether there was a failure of elections in certain areas.

Pichay also questioned the alleged “discrepancies” between the tallies of the Comelec and the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel)

In Laguna, for instance, Pichay said the Namfrel tally recorded 307, 628 votes for him but in the Comelec counting, he got only 156, 969 votes in the same province.

He also noted the discrepancies in Cavite where he supposedly obtained 219, 164 votes in the Namfrel tally but got 196,601 votes in the Comelec canvassing.

He also cited Quezon province where he got 147, 432 votes from Namfrel and 135,113 votes from Comelec; and Oriental Mindoro where he got 66,428 from Namfrel and 49,363 from Comelec.

“I don’t want to complain, ayokong mag-sour graping [I don’t want to sourgrape]. Gusto ko lang malaman kung ano ang katotohanan. Ako ba ay nabawasan o sila ba’y nadagdagan [I just want to know the truth. Were my votes shaved or were their votes padded]?” he asked.

“I want the public to know kung sino ang nandaya [who cheated]. As far as I know, wala akong capability na mandaya [I don’t have the capability to cheat]. Lahat ng boto ko ay totoong boto para sa akin [All of my votes were real votes for me],” Pichay added.

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