The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition filed by opposition senatorial candidate Aquilino L. Pimentel III assailing the canvass of allegedly manufactured Maguindanao Certificates of Canvass as this should be the subject of an electoral protest before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).
In a 40-page unanimous decision penned by Justice Minita V. Chico-Nazario, the Court En Banc dismissed Pimentel’s petition for certiorari and mandamus assailing the proceedings before the Commission on Elections en banc, acting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBC) for the May 2007 senatorial elections, and its constituted Special Provincial Board of Canvassers for Maguindanao (SPBOC-Maguindanao) in which Pimentel’s lead over Juan Miguel Zubiri had been reduced from 133,000 votes to only 4,000 votes.
The Court found that the issues raised by Pimentel as to the irregularities and suspicious circumstances surrounding the Maguindanao MCOCs, which appear prima facie regular on their face, compels or necessitates the piercing of the veil of the MCOCs, thus making such challenge more appropriate in a regular election protest, “wherein the parties may litigate all the legal and factual issues raised by them in as much detail as they may deem necessary or appropriate.” It rejected Pimentel’s claim that his petition constitutes a pre-proclamation case under sec. 30 of RA 7166 as amended by RA 9369, which allows a determination of authenticity and due execution of the certificates of canvass as an exception to the general prohibition against the filing of a pre-proclamation case in senatorial elections, as the Special Provincial Board of Canvassers-Maguindanao “is not Congress nor the COMELEC en banc acting as the National Canvassing Board, which are specifically charged with the duty to determine the authenticity and due execution of the certificates of canvass submitted to it.”
The Court pointed out that Pimentel has the burden of establishing “that the Maguindanao MCOCs are manufactured and that it is evident on the face thereof.” The Court held that Pimentel’s insistence on being allowed to propound questions to the canvassing officials “reveals that, although he has his suspicions, he has yet no actual evidence that the Maguindanao MCOCs were indeed manufactured.”
Additionally, it found that “Pimentel’s main objection to the Maguindanao MCOCs used in the canvass by the SPBOC-Maguindanao is that they are mostly copy 2 or the copy intended to be posted on the wall.” It thus stressed that “At least as far as the proceedings before the local boards of canvassers are concerned, this Court’s ruling in Pangarungan v. Commission on Elections still holds true: it is not required that all the other copies of the election returns or certificates of canvass be taken into account and compared with one another before one of them, determined to be authentic, may be used or included in the canvass.”
The Court likewise rejected Pimentel’s assertion that his right to due process had been violated when the SPBOC and NBC disallowed his counsel’s attempts to question the election officials involved in the preparation and canvassing of the contested MCOCs as there is presently no statute or regulation expressly providing for a procedure of allowing such questioning.
The Court stressed “that attempts to delay the canvass proceedings, except for the permissible pre-proclamation controversies, must be shunned. Grounds that are proper for electoral protests should not be allowed to delay the proclamation of the winners.”
Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno and Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio Morales, Adolfo S. Azcuna, Dante O. Tinga, Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr., Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura, Ruben T. Reyes, and Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro concurred in the decision. Senior Justice Leonardo A. Quisumbing and Justices Antonio T. Carpio and Renato C. Corona, Chair and members of the SET, respectively, took no part. (GR No. 178413, Pimentel v. Comelec, March 13, 2008)
