Ms. Ronadale Zapata
83321148/8334507
VP
LAWYERS: DEFEATED LOREN BLAMES ANYONE BUT HERSELF
11 November 2005
The lawyers
of Vice President Noli ‘Kabayan’ De Castro are baffled by the latest statement of
defeated
candidate
Loren Legarda on the postponement of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) of
recount of votes blaming the
delay on everyone but herself.
According to Atty. Armando Marcelo of the Andres Marcelo Padernal Guerrero & Paras
(AMPGP) Law Offices, counsel
for the Vice President, it was Supreme Court spokesman Ismael Khan himself who
announced that the recount was
postponed to give the tribunal time to resolve Legarda’s motion to exclude 21
municipalities in Mindanao
from the recount.
Senator
Legarda should be reminded that the reason for the November 10 postponement of the
recount was because of her
motion chickening out of the recount in Lanao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.
Legarda's
sudden flip-flop and fickle-mindedness may be a preview of how she would have
conducted herself in a highly
sensitive office requiring quick and decisive action.
Marcelo also
reiterated their earlier contention that Legarda’s move to withdraw part of her
protest is prejudicial to the
Vice President since he is now
being deprived of his chance to clear his name after Legarda accused him of cheating in the
Mindanao provinces. As if this
was not enough, Marcelo was
appalled that Loren even had the temerity to place the blame of delaying the recount on the duly
elected Vice President.
VP’s counsel
Atty. Marcelo also expressed concern over the true purpose behind Legarda's
withdrawal and the facts that
she may be trying to hide. According to him, her sudden withdrawal is suspicious,
specially considering that de
Castro won in those provinces.
"What did she find out after she reviewed the Election Returns for Lanao del Norte and Surigao
del Sur?" asked Marcelo.
"Perhaps she finally realized that the Vice President really won and all her
accusations are not supported
by the records. She sounded so sure about her protest before, but apparently
she was mistaken. Maybe
her entire protest is one big
mistake, as we have always maintained before the PET."
Far from
really determining the truth, Marcelo reiterates that Loren is more concerned
with maligning the Vice
President’s reputation and she is doing so at the expense of the valuable time and
resources of the Vice
President, the PET, and more importantly the taxpaying public.
Ref
no. VPMEDIA 05-172
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Copyright
2005
Office of the Vice President (OVP)
Management Information Services
Division (MISD). All rights reserved.
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