Kapihan sa Senado EXCERPTS
May 31, 2007
Guest Speaker: Atty. Adel Tamano, GO Spokesperson


On Mike’s decision to concede:

Atty. Tamano: My hat’s off to you. What you did was a classy thing. It shows that you have love for country, and that you want to protect the electoral process. Congratulations Mike. Although you may not have risen in height, at least in my eyes, tumaas ka. In stature at least, tumaas ka.


On Migz Zubiri:

Atty. Tamano: …I heard it from some media saying, if he gets in, that just by his getting into the Magic 12, the opposition would cry foul, and claim that he cheated personally. I wanted to tell Migz, face to face, from what I have heard about him, I heard that he is a gentleman, and from what we have seen, he has ran a clean campaign, so the best of luck to him. We still of course prefer that our candidates be in the magic 12, but if there was anyone, on a personal note, if there was anyone from Team Unity that I would prefer to make it into the magic 12, it would be migz.

On the “faceless” witnesses of GO against alleged massive fraud campaign especially in Mindanao:

Atty. Tamano: First, hindi sila faceless. The reason why we cannot show their faces, is because they fear for their lives. Some of the reporters were here when we presented our witnesses yesterday, these are board of election inspectors from maguindanao who saw the cheating first hand, and these reporters who are here, they can really testify. I think you saw the same thing that I saw, that they were shaking. Natatakot talaga sila for their lives. and yet in spite of their fears, inspite of the fact that they knew that they were putting their lives in danger. They have stepped forward to tell the truth about cheating. We from the opposition we have not offered them anything in terms of money or promises, or even protection, as a matter of fact. I think it demeans them when we call them faceless witnesses, because in fact they are very brave. And we did try yesterday to present them to the comelec. Ang problema lang, hindi pa pumapayag yung comelec. We want to present them in what is known as in an executive session. Which means, wala pong media, wala pong ibang outside parties. We wanted to do that , so we can protect their identities. But, hindi pa po pumapayag yung comelec. But we are still hopeful. The reason we want to present them to the comelec themselves, is for them to see from the testimony and the words itself of these witnesses, what happened in maguindanao and the cheating that happened there. And to really prove, we are rising to the challenge of the comelec that we are presenting our evidence on cheating. Hindi lang po lahat puro political hot air , so to speak.

On Koko Pimentel’s filing of charges before the comelec:

Atty. Tamano: …ang lead counsel namin is atty. Boy brillantes, but we are all helping atty. Pimentel. I cannot say, in all frankness, I cannot say that all of the legal moves of atty. Pimentel are sanctioned by atty. Brillantes. That is something for boy brillantes to decide. But what I can tell you as a matter of fact, is hindi lang po si atty. Brillantes, even the lawyers of sen. Ping, the lawyers of sen. Loren, all the go lawyers are helping atty. Pimentel with his case. These witnesses actually, lumapit sila ke sen. Ping, and inspite of the fact that they are actually, we can say that they are witnesses for sen. Ping, and whatever petitions that he will file, the affidavits that they executed, as far as I know, will also form part of the petitions that atty. Pimentel will file. Now, I just want to take note that electoral sabotage, that is a new offense under Republic Act 9369, and this is punishable by life imprisonment. This is a non-bailable offense.

On early, partial proclamation of senators:

Atty. Tamano:…we’ve been pushing for partial proclamation. We feel that if you have a partial proclamation, that will diffuse a lot of the tension. And on our side, the genuine opposition, and also I guess the team unity, can focus in protecting the vote of the last who will come in. now, team unity keep on saying that there are about 5 million votes pa to be counted. Actually that’s bit inaccurate, because hindi naman 100 percent turn out eh. Kung mga 70 percent o 60 percent turnout, we’re just talking here about of 2-3 million votes. And I think that with that as a backgrounder, we can already have a partial proclamation of those candidates that are sure winners.

On other candidates from either GO or TU to follow the act of Mike Defensor in conceding:

Atty. Tamano: …I actually advised not just the losing GO but also the losing TU candidates. For example, Sec. Defensor was no. 15 for the last count, maybe those lower than him, such as pichay and the others, it would really be a classy thing, a gentlemanly thing or gentlewomanly thing to concede. Kasi po, what we really want, and tama yung punto ni mike na on the ground, there may be some supporters, who will do, and these are his words. His supporters might do acts that are inimical to democracy and against, paraphrase ko na to, against proper or correct electoral process. So minsan kasi, hindi na yung mga kandidato ang nandadaya, but rather those who support him, or those who are allied with him. And so para madiffuse to, and to fight against cheating. Those who really do not have a statistical chance whether GO or team unity, they really should do the gentlemanly thing and concede. I think it would be an act of statesmanship, and I think all of us would really say, even as they admit that they have lost the race, we would all take off our hats and say, ang galing nyo.


On Sonny Trillanes’ petition for bail in order to perform his duties as a senator:

Atty. Tamano: I’ve talked with his people, and some of his lawyers, they have already filed a petition for bail. As a lawyer myself, I feel that the petition should be granted, because one of the basis for not granting bail or the real reason why you do not grant bail is because of the flight risk, na isang akusado might run away. But you know, if you are a senator of the republic, it is one, why would you run away. No. 2, san ka tatago? With the media following you and with your supporters, all over the country. It would really be difficult to hide. So I think as a legal matter, there really is a basis to grant bail to trillanes. On another point…there is a historical precedence, where senators are placed in the custody of the senate president. So , manny villar can take legal custody of sen. Trillanes, and thus he will be able to perform his duties as a senator of the republic.

On the effect of the Lanao vote:

Atty. Tamano:…yung lanao vote, the last couple of municipalities and towns, that’s about a hundred thousand plus votes . and yes it will affect the, maybe, 10th to 12th. but lanao del sur, my own expectation, cause I was there a couple of weeks before the elections. I went around. I am a maranao and I am from there and I campaigned for our candidates there, I think we will be quite surprise, we are gonna see a lot of genuine opposition candidates in the magic 12, as a lot of people were surprised in marawi city when they were doing the canvass . it was 7, 7 genuine opposition candidates who got in…

On the call of Sen. Lacson for Com. Sarmiento’s resignation:

Atty. Tamano:… the consensus from the candidates, that I was talking to, they join sen. lacson’s call for comm.. sarmiento to resign, Because of what happened in lanao del sur, in regard to the custody of the ERs. my own interpretation of the custody of the ers, I really feel that, this is contrary to the position taken by the comelec, I really feel that there was a violation of the change of custody of the ers, and I really feel that there was a violation there. in the legal community, comm. Sarmiento really does a have a good reputation, not just as a competent lawyer, but also as a good person...that person for me, and a minority in the opposition, that is our..yun ang conflict. On the one hand, there seems to be a technical violation, yet on the other hand, sayang din si sarmiento, dahil he is such a decent guy. So, me personally, I am conflicted and there are some people in the opposition who still feel that he can still adequately do his job. But I will admit, that there is a group that supports the call of sen. Lacson for comm. Sarmiento to resign. And I think there really is a basis.

(end)