Philippines: Opposition should stop being ‘prophets of electoral doom’ Team Unity

May. 15, 2007

MANILA — Team Unity is calling on the Genuine Opposition (GO) to stop being “prophets of electoral doom” and cease taxing the public patience with incessant but baseless accusations that cheating will take place in the next two days.


Team Unity deputy spokesperson Tonypet Albano called GO’s accusations that cheating will take place within the next 48 hours as “inflammatory and ridiculous.”

“Unless, of course, the GO simply aims to poison the public mind once the avalanche of command votes for TU are counted in by the official count and the various quick counts within the next few days. The GO, after this happens, will cry cheating anew and its candidates will have an excuse for their miserable loss and possibly mount destabilization moves against the Arroyo administration,” Albano said.

Albano said the command votes will be factored in by the entities doing official and unofficial counts within the days ahead, shattering the early lead of the GO candidates, which some quick counts had selectively counted from opposition bailiwicks.

He said TU is hopeful that at least seven of its candidates will land in the Magic 12 once the wave of pro-administration votes are counted, most especially those coming from areas where the opposition has failed to field candidates for the local or congressional races.

Albano said the TU statements that there will be areas that would deliver 12-0 or at least 10-2 or 8-4 for the TU have been confirmed by the initial reports from the field and this is what probably terrifies the GO.

Media reports showed that the May 14 election for senators was generally peaceful and was hardly affected by the occasional mayhem that attended local races, Albano said.

And the GO had fielded anti-fraud teams in various parts of the country to protect the votes of its candidates as confirmed by spokesman Adel Tamano, Albano said.

“So what is the GO carping about. The election was peaceful. They have anti-fraud teams across the country. The GO should ease on its paranoia,” Albano said.

TU did not even raise an issue with the biased, pro-GO slant of most of the media stories and they made up for this by working harder, Albano said.

He advised the GO that the post-election work for both the TU and the GO should focus on finding ways to work collectively to safeguard the results of the May 14 voting.

“Instead of carping and whining about imaginary electoral fraud, the GO should join hands with the Team Unity to ensure the integrity of the elections. A fraud-free elections is out collective concern because it would lead to greater political stabilityand usher in an environment more conducive to sustained, if not, accelerated growth,” Albano said. ###

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