Lapid won most votes in 2007 - Pampanga recount

Friday, 19 February 2010 01:00 PM Merck Maguddayao

In a bizarre turn of events, former Pampanga Governor Mark Lapid received the highest number of votes in the 2007 gubernatorial elections in Pampanga, based on the recount conducted by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Second Division.

In the recount, Lapid of Lakas-CMD received 210,875 votes while Lilia Pineda of Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI) and then-independent candidate and incumbent Governor Ed Panlilio received 190,729 and 188,718 votes, respectively.

The result of the recount is a complete turnaround of the 2007 election results which yielded 219,706 votes for Panlilio; 218,559 votes for Pineda; and 210,875 votes for Lapid.

However, COMELEC provincial supervisor for Pampanga Temie Lambino said that Lapid “could not invoke victory” because “he is not a party,” not having filed a motion to recount the votes. Pineda filed for a recount last year.

Meanwhile, Lapid's running mate in 2007 Paul Tristan Laus said that the former Governor had “not given the issue a thought.” Pineda was declared by the COMELEC Second Division as Governor of Pampanga last week, pending a hearing by the COMELEC en banc.

Panlilio supporters protest recount

Last Wednesday, members of the Kapampangan Kontra Recount (Kapampangans Against the Recount, or K2R) held a rally in front of the COMELEC office in Pampanga and pelted tomatoes at a tarpaulin emblem of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Pineda, and COMELEC Second Division presiding officer Nicodemo Ferrer, in protest of the recount.

“Inonse ng COMELEC si Among Ed. Inonse pa nila tayong mga botante. (The COMELEC cheated on Panlilio. They also cheated on us, Kapampangan voters),” K2R spokesperson Arnel Manliclic said on Sun Star Online.

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