Never have I seen Juan Miguel Zubiri, long referred to as the senator from Maguindanao, looking so harassed than in his press briefing yesterday at the Senate to debunk the very damaging revelations of Zaldy Ampatuan, former governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao and Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol that they were both involved in the shaving of votes from senatorial candidates Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Benigno Aquino III, and Alan Peter Cayetano in favor of Zubiri in the 2007 elections.
The votes that Zubiri got in Maguindanao enabled him to edge out Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III from the number 12 slot.
That’s the reason he is in the Senate and Pimentel is left struggling it out at the Senate Electoral Tribunal which last year upheld the counter-protest of Zubiri based on what he claims were irregularities in Metro Manila which to many are nothing but dilatory tactics to wear out Pimentel and for him to complete the six-year term under a fake mandate.
In yesterday’s briefing he was talking of empty ballot boxes which won’t necessarily give legitimacy to his stolen mandate.
The dissenting opinion of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio still holds true: “In Zubiri’s pilot precincts, consisting of 18,227 precincts, he was able to recover only 11,948 votes, subject to adjustments, translating to 0.66 average vote recovered per precinct. His projected total recovery is only 33,794 votes in his remaining 75% non-pilot protested precincts, or a total projected recovery of 45,742 votes in all his 70,607 counter-protested precincts.”
Carpio further said: “On the other hand, Pimentel’s net recovery in all his protested precincts is 257,401 votes. Even if we deduct the number of votes contained in the fake ballots, Zubiri’s projected net recovery cannot successfully overcome the net recovery posted by Pimentel.”
But Zubiri may finally have peace of mind because he said he expects the SET to make a decision in September and whatever the result is, he said he will no longer contest it.
Zubiri insisted that he did not cheat and it was out of his hands if someone cheated for him. (According to Ampatuan, it was Gloria Arroyo who gave the instructions to cheat the three senators.)
That just made him a fake senator.
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No doubt the almost simultaneous testimonies of Zaldy Ampatuan and Bedol on the cheating in the 2007 elections are connected, even orchestrated.
I may not totally agree with the accusation of lawyer Harry Roque, counsel of a number of the families of the journalists who were among those killed that dreadful day of Nov. 23, 2009, of the involvement of Aquino’s cabinet officials in the plan to absolve Zaldy from the massacre, but I understand their concern that Zaldy may obtain what was nearly within his reach with the help of then acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra during Arroyo administration.
Mindanews’ Carol Arguillas also raised a question in her Facebook shoutout. “Can someone please enlighten us here in Mindanao why the interviews of Zaldy Ampatuan were embargoed for two weeks? To be aired upon the approval of the interviewee…. What was the two week period for, pray tell?”
I would also like to know.
As of now, I’d rather focus on Bedol. It was not amusing watching Benjamin Abalos, former Comelec chair, making light of Bedol’s revelations and focusing more on the election supervisor’s shady reputation.
However stained Bedol’s character is, it doesn’t detract from the truth that he performed cheating operations for certain candidates.
So far, what we have heard and read are revelations of cheating in the 2007. What I’m more interested is what Bedol can reveal about the 2004 elections. He was mentioned several times by Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to Arroyo in the “Hello Garci” tapes when they were talking about areas where she lost.
I’m a bit worried, however, that the current Comelec Chair, Sixto Brillantes, does not seem interested in the testimony of Bedol. Isn’t he interested in finding out the truth about the 2004 elections?
Ang kapal ni Zubiri, ayaw pang lumayas sa Senado e hindi naman voted senator of Pinas since day one he assumed his chair!
First time I saw him in person in the Senate, hindi talaga mapagkatiwalaan ang pagmumukha….cheater talaga gaya ng among putot!
Kung ganyan na hindi intresado si Mang Sixto sa testimonya ni Lintang Bedol e dapat hindi yan aprobahan ng CA. Bakit ayaw nyang malaman ang truth sa likod ng dayaan sa botohan?
Kahit na hindi nangyari sa panahon nya kung gusto na “matuwid na daan” sa pamumuno ni Pnoy kailangan ay sumunod sya sa kampanyang malinis na gobyerno ng kasalukuyang pamunuan. Kung hindi niya kaya at meron nakatutok sa batok o meron syang tunay na amo dapat lumayas sa Comelec! Binibwisit ni Mang Sixto ang leadership ni kuya Noy!
“Zubiri insisted that he did not cheat and it was out of his hands if someone cheated for him. (According to Ampatuan, it was Gloria Arroyo who gave the instructions to cheat the three senators.)”
If someone cheated for him and he knew it, delicadeza that he did not assume the position. Pinabayaan nya, ungas!
Pwede bang gawin ni putot basta na mandaya para sa kanya kung wala syang pahintulot! Nangu-ulol si MeGirl SoVery!
So very hot ang topic na ito. Ako rin, first time kong nakita sa personal si Zubiri, parang dehins senador ang arrive. Sa bagay talaga namang hindi sapagkat noon pa`y nandidiri na sa kanya dahil hindi naman talaga nanalo. Ngayon at medyo nagiba na ang ihip ng hangin, sana sa pag lutang ni Lintang, magkwento na siya ng tunay na kaganapan sa 2 nakaraang elections na may kinalaman kay Garci at Zubiri.
Joe, malaki ulo at mukha ni Zubiri di ba, alanganin sa buong katawan noh? Kaya pala, puno ng kadayaan ang ulo, hehehe!
There was a story before that Zubiri or was it his father who was seen in a posh hotel in Makati having some soup together with Abalos. It may not be him but his father who had the hand on the cheating. Hindi nga siya but he asked someone to do it for him, ganun did yun.
he is the senator from maguindanao. he is also arroyo’s senator. but he is not a legitimate senator of the philippines.
Pwede nga namang hindi siya involved sa dayaan noong 2007 elections. Ang katangahan niya, sabi nga ni #6 ay may ibang tao ang lumapit kay Aballos at nag short naman si Aballos papunta kay Bedol upang mangyari ang 12-0 vote in favor of the administration.
Kung ganon nga ang nangyari, hindi pa rin excuse iyan MR. ZUBIRI upang hindi ka mapaalis diyan sa pwesto mo ngayon dahil mayroon talagang nanalo. Marunong ka naman sigurong magbasa MR. ZUBIRI?
Let’s assume na daddy ni Migirl ang kausap ni Abalos para iproklama sya na senador, ang tagal ng balita yan bakit pinabayaan nya at enjoy na enjoy pa sya sa pwestong hindi pala kanya kung meron syang bayag?!
Basta hindi siya nanalo in 2007. So he does not deserve to sit in the Senate for even a minute.
Pekeng senador pala. Ewan ko kung bakit siya’y naging senate majority leader siya noon. Siguro iyan basbas ang kanyang pekeng presidente.
It looks like Zubiri just wants to hold on to his stolen seat a few more months. Parehong pareho lang siya ng boss niyang si pandak-clingers to their stolen seats.
Let’s assume na daddy ni Migirl ang kausap ni Abalos para iproklama sya na senador, ang tagal ng balita yan bakit pinabayaan nya at enjoy na enjoy pa sya sa pwestong hindi pala kanya kung meron syang bayag?-Chi
Sa mga ulupong na kating-kati na maka-puwesto at all cost, It doesn’t really matter whether they won marginally, by landslide, or by “landscape”. They couldn’t care less if they won by cheating or somebody else cheated for them. With Gloria’s cheating machinery ready to back him up, why go to the details of even asking how he won ? Meron ba siyang bayag ? Hmmmm, ewan ko lang. Ang alam ko, nang iproklama siya na nanalo siya, “nag-kiss sa bayag” (kiss sabay HUG) siya kay Abalos.
koko should replace migz now. once he is seated, koko is an incumbent with all the advantages of an incumbent to win re-election in 2013.
kung hindi nag concede sila defensor at recto, malamang “nanalo” rin sila sa 2007 after all the maguindanao votes were counted.
Zubiri is a liar… To say that he is not a cheat and a thief because someone might have cheated for him is complete baloney. Who is he trying to fool again???
Gloria Macapagal wouldn’t have instructed her merry band of thieves to shave votes off Ping Lacson,Pimentel and the other fellow without having first secured an agreement with Zubiri that he belonged to Gloria after the shaving operations were completed.
Zubiri is a thief, a cheat, a liar and a con artist.
No wonder he looked harassed. He stole Pimentel’s seat, took Pimentel’s salary, played to the gallery, fooled the nation and acted the sanctimonious sonavabitch in the Senate. What an extraordinary shithead!!! How can he not feel harassed today after learning that he’s been found out to be a total, downright charlatan — A FAKE!!!
If he had an ounce of honour left in that ugly persona of his, he would drown himself in the nearest sea.
And on his way to the sea, he should drag that pandak with him, tie her to a boulder of rock and push her from a cliff. Only then can we say that he’s redeemed!
Bastards, shameless hussies Zubiri and Gloria Macapagal both are. May they rot in hell!
I am trying to figure out the connection of Zaldy Ampatuan’s “revelations”, Lintang Bedol’s coming out in the open, and now the video of Col. Mariano. What do these people have in mind?
Naguilenya, no connection. We know of that Col. mariano thing three weeks ago. We found out naguyo siya by this person na wala namang credibility. Pinatulan naman ng reporters of some agencies na walang ma-file na story.
Ignore it.
This was Ellen’s blogpost after the proclamation of the winning senators in 2007.
Zubiri never forgave Trillanes for this comment.
When Trillanes was still in the detention, Zubiri was head of the Committee on Rules, he sat on the petition from the International organization of parliamentarians for Trillanes to server his mandate.
Now, Trillanes is a member of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (he replaced Sen. Angara, a supporter of Zubiri) who will decide on Pimentel protest as well as the counter-protest of Zubiri.
Lumiliit na talaga ang mundo nila.
True Ellen, Pichay is also in a tight bind via the tax evasion charges route – parang si Al Capone.