The phone always rings when you’re on the street; but this was a pleasant call because I haven’t heard from the person in a while. A reporter-friend asked me what I thought of the following: 
Since the legitimacy question has been hounding the President, and continue to hound her and her candidates in this elections, would it be a good idea for her to order a recount of votes cast in the 2004 elections (election returns) in order to settle the doubt once and for all. So, we talked and chatted and speculated, and talked about his blog and chatted some more (we talked about how there was a lynch mob out there in the blogosphere, and I saw in someone else’s blog how he was almost lynched by the commentators there and he said that was the problem with the blogs; although it was worse in other countries, there are bloggers who are just operators of politicians, opposition and administration, and they’re paid to snipe or lynch any blogger whom they feel is not on the side of their boss. Anyway.) Because I stopped to take the call, the cars behind were slowing down a bit, the road got narrower; so being a good citizen who obeyed traffic rules I had to cut the conversation short after we talked and chatted etc.
On his question, I said something like: Why would the President order a recount when she had been declared the winner by Congress? And he said, to settle the legitimacy question. And I said, well, you could write about that but you should not make yourself look naïve by saying you actually believed she would order a recount of the ER’s. And he said, what if it was suggested to her, or what if there was enough public clamor for her to do a recount. And I said, maybe; two years ago she would, when the Hello Garci conversations broke out, because she felt weakened that she even apologized publicly, that was her weakest; but she is not the same person she was two years ago; she probably feels stronger.
Anyway, here’s what is provided, legally, on whether she can order a recount.
Batas Pambansa 884 “Creating the Presidential Electoral Tribunal”: (I copied-and-pasted from chanrobles.com so I won’t have to type). It refers to a “contest”; a “protestant”; and it also states that “any registered candidate for President or for Vice-President of the Philippines who received the second and third highest number of votes may contest the election of the President or the Vice-President, as the case may be, by filing a verified petition xxx”
In other words, the losing candidate may file the protest. But it uses the word “may”. Can the declared winner file? It doesn’t make sense for the declared winner to file a protest or contest her own victory; legally anyway; and if you were a lawyer and she was your client, that’s what you would tell her. But here are the provisions:
Sec. 4. The Tribunal must decide the contest within twelve months after it is filed. In case of a tie between the candidates for President and/or for Vice-President involved in the contest, the Tribunal shall notify the Batasang Pambansa of such fact, in which case the President or Vice-President, as the case may be, shall be chosen by a vote of a majority of all the Members of the Batasang Pambansa in session assembled.
Sec. 5. In case the protestant is declared the winner, he shall assume office by taking his oath in accordance with Constitution as soon as the judgment has become final.chan robles virtual
Sec. 7. Any registered candidate for President or for Vice-President of the Philippines who received the second and third highest number of votes may contest the election of the President or the Vice-President, as the case may be, by filing a verified petition of contest with the Clerk of the Tribunal within thirty days after the proclamation of the result of the election of a purported winner.
But what if there were no legal “insensibility” about it, what did I think of it? What is my non-legal political opinion of it? I do not feel qualified to give political advice and usually refrain from going out of my field of practice or study/ profession. But since the caller was a friend, here’s what I said; (my Dear-Abby advice):
It’s expensive. And, in a proceeding like that, you do not have control of a lot of factors. It will be a good forum/ arena for the opposition, they could grab every chance to question every ruling on every election return; you do not have control of grandstanding. You do not have control of the mass media and there would be widespread publicity, over which you do not exercise complete control. You do not have control of how the justices would rule on every election return. Most important, you do not have control of how long that would take; recounts take a year or more.
So, how do you solve the legitimacy question when the Garci tapes cannot be authenticated?
Find the original, the entire tape. The cd-version is a compilation and not an uninterrupted original; so find the original and present it.
If that cannot be done, if the Garci tapes cannot be authenticated, how do you solve the legitimacy question?
Win the mid-term elections in an honest and believable way. That will make you survive. It will not resolve the issue, but you might survive up to 2010, then after that, go abroad.
But I guess…that’s going around the problem. How do you win the election if you cannot address the legitimacy question?
I’ll give the classic formula: Consolidate those forces who are closest or most agreeable with you. Prioritize them. Because these are the people you will use to expand your base, reach out to more people, and convince others. And to get intel for you. Find out who are plotting against you; but do not let them know what you know. Then break their alliances (of those who are plotting against you). Then win the elections. When you are down and out and isolated, do not embark on activities where you don’t have control over the crucial players; focus on activities you have control of.
That’s the classic formula. But I guess she already knows it. I’m just a lawyer. I have to type an SPA and a pre-trial brief today. my cup of tea.
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