ilrr.
lragu
Binay seeks
oustet of
'Kid'Pefra
BY WEI{DELL VIGIUA
and ROD LAGUEAD
FORMER Vice President Jejomar
Binay yesterday accused Rep. Ro-
mu.lo "Kid" Peia of vote-buying
and of manipulating precinct
ptoceedings as he filed an elec-
toal protest before the House of
Representatives Electoral Tribuoal
(HREr).
Peia beat Binay by 5,806 votes
in Makati City's congressional race
in the 6rst district. Based on the
Certificates of Canass, Peia gar-
nered 71,035 votes against Binay's
65,229 votes-
Binay, through his lawl'crs, asked
the HRET to order the conduct
of a manual recount of the ballots
cast and othet election documents
in all 235 protested clustered pre-
cincts.
The HRET is composed of six
congressmen and three Supreme
Court justices who will be destg-
nated by the Chief Justice.
' 'IThis election protest is not
filed out of spite. It is a challenge
to uncovet the TRUE will of
See BINAY ) Page 83
Business
t7, 2Ot9
Wednesday, July
Insight'
BINAY
people, the voters of Makati City, '
Binay said in his 7O-page protest.
Considering dre "slim margin"
of 5,806 between their vote counts,
Binay said the votes in contest are
"crucially deteiminative" of rvho is
the true representative of Makad's
first district,
"As it is, the proclamation
of @ef,a) was based on figures
plagued by mysteries... the (con-
glessional contest) was marred by
various qranifestations of fraud,
anomalies, irregularities and sta-
tistical improbabilities," Binay said.
"There wete simply numetous
reports of machine malfunction,
votet disenfranchisement, and
other issues pertaining to wide-
spread fiaud," Binay added.
He said vote-counting machhes
(VCM$ allegedly failed to transmit
the results fJom many clustered
precincts that supposedly resulted
to approximately 9,050 votes "dis-
enftanchised to be Null,/Misread
Votes."
the He likewise accuscd Pefra's camp
of manipulating precinct ptoceed-
\ re-olr
'ings and "engaging in rampant
vote-buying."
He alleged Peffa's camp paid
P500 to P2,000 to voters for them
to vote for theit candidate ot any-
one else but Binay.
Binay also questioned the elec-
tion results in each of the 235
clustered precincts, citing several
grounds that include various elec-
tion itregularities committed al-
legedly by the camp of Peia; the
brownout that occurred io the ba-
tangays of San Antonio, Bangkal,
and San Isidro; the irregulatities
in the canvassing of votes in the
protested precincts and the errors
in the scanning of ballots or count-
ing of the votes cast in the ballot
by the VCM.
It also pointed to the discrep-
ancy between the total number
of votes cast for both candidates
and the total number of valid
ballots courted, the failure of the
Electotal Boards to replace official
ballots rejected by the VCMs, the
failwe of several VCMs to print
ballot receipts and ser,rral compact
flash (CF) catds in the VCM were
teconfigured immediately after the
t..Ali=u
elections were closed.
He likewise complained that the
Commission on Elections (Com-
elec) failed to provide the complete
copies of the certified tue copies
of Statement of Votes (SOVs)
for 85 out of the 235 clustered
precincts that functioned during
the elections.
"While the overall objective
of the automated elections is to
facilitate the swift ttansmission
of election results, this should
not divert the electorate of ,the
concerned ldslative district and
insult dre sanctity of the right to
suffrage," Binay argred.
"No less than the President
(Duterte) himself publidy stated
his displeasure n'ith dre conduct
of the 2019 midterm elections,"
he added.
Binayk original ballot was re-
jected multip)e times by the VCM
wheri he casr his vote last May
13, proinpting him to rush to the
Comelec office in Pasay City to
complain about the incident,
He was given a second ballot
that was eventually accepted by
the VCM.