Pimentel vs. Zubiri (SET Case No. 001-07) was the election protest of Koko Pimentel after the proclamation of Juan Miguel Zubiri as senator after the 2007 Philippine Senate election. The Philippine Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) on June 19, 2008 resolved to proceed with the election protest of Pimentel against Senator Zubiri: "Indeed, there is reasonable ground to believe that the final outcome of the case could affect the officially proclaimed results of the 12th senatorial position in the 2007 Senate election, hence, the election protest case deserves further proceedings by the tribunal.[1]
Aquilino Martin de la Llana Pimentel III, commonly known as Koko Pimentel, is a Filipino politician and legislator who is currently serving as a Senator of the Philippines. He previously became the 28th Senate President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2018. He is also the current president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban). As the eldest son and third child of the former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., he is the first child of a previous Senate president to hold the post. He was sworn in on August 12, 2011 and proclaimed as the 12th winning senator in the 2007 election.
Juan Miguel "Migz" Fernández Zubiri is a Filipino businessman and politician who served three consecutive terms in the Philippine House of Representatives for the third district of Bukidnon and as a senator. In the 14th Congress of the Philippine Senate, he became Senate Majority Leader, replacing Senator Francis Pangilinan on November 17, 2008. During his Majority Leadership, the Senate passed a record 650 bills. In the 17th Congress, he was once again elected as Senate Majority Leader on May 21, 2018, filling the vacancy left by elected Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Election to the Senate of the Philippines was held on Monday, May 14, 2007. This is to elect 12 of the 24 seats in the Senate. Together with those elected in 2004, they will comprise the 14th Congress via plurality-at-large voting. The senators elected in 2004 will serve until June 30, 2010, while the senators elected in this election will serve up to June 30, 2013. The elections to the House of Representatives as well as local elections occurred on the same date. The Philippines uses plurality-at-large voting for seats in the Senate.
On August 3, 2011, Zubiri resigned his Senate seat weeks after former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan and Maguindanao provincial election supervisor revealed the alleged irregularities in the 2007 election at the province.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was an autonomous region of the Philippines, located in the Mindanao island group of the Philippines, that consisted of five predominantly Muslim provinces: Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. It was the only region that had its own government. The region's de facto seat of government was Cotabato City, although this self-governing city was outside its jurisdiction.
Zaldy Uy Ampatuan, is a Filipino politician and was governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from August 8, 2005 until his expulsion on November 25, 2009. He is former chairman of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats for ARMM. and is one of the sons of Andal Ampatuan Sr., head of the powerful Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao.
Maguindanao is a province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Since 2014 the provincial capital is Buluan but the legislative branch of the provincial government, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, convenes in the old provincial capitol in the town of Sultan Kudarat. It borders Lanao del Sur to the north, Cotabato to the east, Sultan Kudarat to the south, and the Illana Bay to the west.
On August 11, 2011, little more than a week after Zubiri's resignation, the SET proclaimed Pimentel as the 12th winning senator in the 2007 elections.[2] The SET decision was based on the evidence presented by Pimentel in his protest showing many ballots were spurious.
Elections to the Senate of the Philippines is done via plurality-at-large voting; a voter can vote for up to twelve candidates, with the twelve candidates with the highest number of votes being elected. The 24-member Senate uses staggered elections, with only one-half of its members up for election at any given time, except for special elections, which are always held concurrently with regularly scheduled elections.
Plurality-at-large voting, also known as block vote or multiple non-transferable vote (MNTV), is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election. Multiple winners are elected simultaneously to serve the district. Block voting is not a system for obtaining proportional representation; instead the usual result is that where the candidates divide into definitive parties the most popular party in the district sees its full slate of candidates elected, resulting in a landslide.
The senatorial election was held in the Philippines on May 10, 2004. The major coalitions that participated are the Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan composed of parties that support the candidacy of president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino, parties that support the candidacy of film actor Fernando Poe Jr. A third coalition, the Alyansa ng Pag-asa was made up of Aksyon Demokratiko and Reporma-LM. K4 won seven seats, while the KNP won the remaining five contested seats in the Philippine Senate.
The 2007 Senate election was contested mainly by two coalitions: the pro-Gloria Macapagal-ArroyoTEAM Unity coalition and the anti-administration Genuine Opposition (GO) coalition. GO's Antonio Trillanes and Koko Pimentel, and Juan Miguel Zubiri of TEAM Unity were contesting the last two Senate seats. Trillanes was eventually proclaimed as the 11th senator, leaving Pimentel and Zubiri contesting the 12th seat.
Tahanan Ekonomiya Aktibo at Magsasaka (TEAM) Unity was the political multi-party electoral alliance of the administration-backed senatorial line-up for the 2007 Philippine Midterm Elections. TEAM Unity is composed mostly of supporters and erstwhile critics of ex-Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Team Unity sought to take several Senate seats in order to protect President Arroyo from impeachment attempts by the political opposition after the midterm elections.
Genuine Opposition (GO) is the political multi-party electoral alliance of the parties senatorial line-up for the 2007 Philippine midterm elections, which is in opposition to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It was originally called the "United Opposition (UNO)", created by opposition stalwart and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay on June 2005 to unite all politicians who wanted to impeach President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. UNO then reorganized itself and changed its name to Grand and Broad Coalition (GBC), with the UNO party under that coalition. On February 15, 2007 the group changed its name again to Genuine Opposition after a meeting with Senate President Manny Villar in his office in Las Piñas City and due to defection of 3 formerly opposition senators named Edgardo Angara, Teresa Aquino-Oreta and Tito Sotto to GMA's senatorial slate.
Antonio Fuentes Trillanes IV, is a retired Navy officer currently serving as a Senator of the Philippines, and ardent critic against the Duterte administration. He was a vice presidential candidate in the 2016 Philippine presidential elections.
Zubiri's proclamation
In the final tally for the 2007 senatorial race by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), Zubiri narrowly edged out opposition candidate Koko Pimentel for the 12th and last slot in the Senate. Zubiri had a total of 11,005,866 votes against Pimentel's 10,984,347 votes.[3] The margin of some 21,519 votes was hotly contested, particularly the votes from the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, where Pimentel had lost heavily to Zubiri.
The Commission on Elections, usually abbreviated as COMELEC, is one of the three constitutional commissions of the Philippines. Its principal role is to enforce all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of elections in the Philippines.
Claiming the votes in Maguindanao were tainted,[4] Pimentel petitioned the Philippine Supreme Court to invalidate the votes from Maguindanao, effectively disenfranchising a whole province. The Supreme Court voted unanimously 14–0 against Pimentel and allowed the COMELEC to count the votes in Zubiri's favor. Pimentel then returned to the Supreme Court for the second time. This time, he petitioned them to issue a restraining order against the proclamation of Zubiri. After oral arguments however the High Tribunal again voted to uphold the COMELEC's decision to proclaim Zubiri, consequently failing to grant Pimentel's petition.[5] The next day, July 14, 2007, Zubiri was duly proclaimed elected to the Philippine Senate.,[6] However, the Court's judgment did not prevent Pimentel from bringing his poll protests to the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Electoral protest
Provinces that have precincts included in Pimentel's electoral protest are shaded yellow; those for Zubiri's counter-protest are shaded blue.
On January 1, 2008, Pimentel made a statement that he now leads Zubiri by 12,000 votes after all ballot boxes from Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao to be empty: hence all votes for all candidates, including Pimentel's and Zubiri's were wiped out. Zubiri led Pimentel by 31,000 votes in that municipality. Zubiri's lawyers then stated that they will contest the exclusion of the votes from Sultan Kudarat, citing Lerias v. House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, where the Supreme Court allowed the use of other election documents when contested ballots are missing.[8]
On March 14, 2008, the Supreme Court in a 40-page decision penned by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, dismissed Koko Pimentel's petition to stop the Commission on Elections from canvassing votes from the province of Maguindanao,[9] a definite morale booster for Senator Zubiri.
Pimentel issued another statement on July 2009 stating that he now has a 96,400-vote lead in the recount. Pimentel stated that 98.15% of the votes in the six of nine of Pimentel's pilot municipalities were spurious.[10] Zubiri countered that since the SET allowed the revision of votes on Pimentel's protest, the same should also be done on his counter-protest. In his counter-protest that mostly Metro Manila, he said that while Pimentel has a 96,400 vote-lead in his protest, Zubiri's counter-protest has him leading by 132,014 votes in Metro Manila, a net lead of 17,913 votes for Zubiri.[11]
After the 2010 Senate election, the SET with its new composition allowed Zubiri to expand the scope of his counter-protest. Pimentel appealed the decision, which allowed the scrutiny of 52,000 ballot boxes, a process that "could take more than six years," noted SET chairman Antonio Carpio who dissented on the decision. The vote was seen as political maneuvering in the then-upcoming election for the Senate President.[12]
Revelations of Bedol and Ampatuan
On July 2011, former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol and suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan revealed that there was massive election fraud during the 2007 election. SET member Francis Pangilinan urged Ampatuan and others who knew of alleged election cheating to submit affidavits to the SET, noting though that these new revelations won't necessarily speed up the resolution of the protests.[13]
On August 3, 2011, Zubiri resigned as a senator, insisting that he did not cheat or asked anyone to cheat for him in the 2007 election. Zubiri cited the issue dividing the nation and placing doubts on the electoral system as the reason for his resignation.[14] Pimentel was dismayed in Zubiri's insistence that the allegations of election fraud were unfounded, adding that the SET should proclaim a new senator as Zubiri's resignation makes his counter-protest "moot and academic."[15] Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile immediately announced that he will study on what to do next as there is no precedent; Senator Francis Escudero, on the other hand, said that Zubiri's resignation is effective immediately, citing instances where senators left office to accept other positions such as when Raul Manglapus became Foreign Affairs Secretary, Alfredo Lim became Mayor of Manila, Teofisto Guingona became Vice President, and when then-Senator Aquino was inaugurated as president.[16]
Ampatuan and Bedol agreed with Zubiri's resignation; Ampatuan said that Zubiri was affected by his conscience. Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes said that the resignation implies that fraud did occur in 2007 and that will benefit Pimentel.[17] The Office of the President and Vice President Jejomar Binay sent their well wishes to Zubiri commending his contributions at the Senate.[18]
Zubiri announced his intention to withdraw his counter-protest so that the SET can resolve Pimentel's counter-protest immediately.[19] On August 11, 2011, four years after the election, the tribunal proclaimed Pimentel as the winner, with Pimentel getting 10,898,786 votes while Zubiri got 10,640,620.[20] Pimentel was sworn into office in Mati, Davao Oriental, by Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Nunez-Malanyaon; it was in Davao Oriental where Pimentel finished second in the election, his highest rank among the provinces.[21]
Pimentel and Zubiri reconiliation
In 2013, Pimentel opted to run under the banner of the Administration Party Team PNoy as Pimentel uncomfortable to run along with Zubiri to the United Nationalist Alliance, Pimentel Won as 9th placer. In 2016, Pimentel and Zubiri reconcile to support the candidacy of then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who won.
The Senate of the Philippines is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, the Congress; the House of Representatives is the lower house. The Senate is composed of 24 senators who are elected at-large with the country as one district under plurality-at-large voting.
Aquilino Quilinging Pimentel Jr., commonly known as Nene Pimentel, is a Filipino politician who served as the President of the Senate of the Philippines from 2000–2001. He is the father of former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III.
The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan, more commonly known as PDP–Laban, is the ruling political party in the Philippines.
The Fourteenth Congress of the Philippines was the national legislature of the Republic of the Philippines, composed of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives. The convening of the 14th Congress followed the 2007 general elections, which replaced half of the Senate membership, and the entire membership of the House of Representatives. It celebrated the centennial year of the Philippine legislature. The Congress' tenure ended with the 2010 general elections
Elections for all positions in the Philippines above the barangay were held on May 10, 2010. The elected president is Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, the 15th President of the Philippines, succeeding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who was barred from seeking re-election due to term restrictions. The successor of vice-president Noli de Castro is Jejomar Binay, the 15th vice president of the Philippines. The legislators elected in the 2010 elections have joined the senators of the 2007 elections and comprise the 15th Congress of the Philippines.
The Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections of 2010 were held on Monday, May 10, 2010. The ruling President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was barred from seeking re-election by the 1987 Constitution, thus necessitating an election to select the 15th President.
Election to the Senate of the Philippines was held on Monday, May 10, 2010. This is to elect 12 of the 24 seats in the Senate. Together with those elected in 2007, they will comprise the 15th Congress. The senators elected in 2007 will serve until June 30, 2013, while the senators elected in this election will serve up to June 30, 2016. The 2010 presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives as well as local elections will occur on the same date. The Philippines uses plurality-at-large voting for seats in the Senate: the twelve candidates with the highest number of votes wins the twelve seats up for election.
The Maguindanao massacre, also known as the Ampatuan massacre after the town where the mass graves were found, occurred on the morning of November 23, 2009, in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. While the 58 victims were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for Esmael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan town, they were kidnapped and killed. Mangudadatu was challenging Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of the incumbent Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and member of one of Mindanao's leading Muslim political clans, in the forthcoming Maguindanao gubernatorial election, part of the national elections in 2010. The people killed included Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.
Andal Ampatuan Jr. is the former mayor of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao, charged with multiple mass murder. He is the son of patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., and his family continues to represent a powerful force in Mindanao politics. His brother, Zaldy Ampatuan, was the regional governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The following is the official canvassing of votes by the Congress of the Philippines for the 2010 Philippine presidential and vice presidential election. The canvassing, originally scheduled to start on May 31, started on May 25, 2010, and ended on June 9, 2010. The Congress is mandated to declare a winner 30 days after the elections.
The 2013 election to the Senate of the Philippines was the 31st election to the Senate of the Philippines. It was held on Monday, May 13, 2013 to elect 12 of the 24 seats in the Senate. Together with those elected in 2010, the candidates elected in this election shall comprise the 16th Congress. The senators elected in 2010 will serve until June 30, 2016, while the senators elected in this election will serve up to June 30, 2019. The elections to the House of Representatives as well as local elections occurred on the same date. The Philippines use plurality-at-large voting for seats in the Senate: the twelve candidates with the highest number of votes win the twelve seats up for election. The Senate seat vacated by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010 was among the twelve seats to be put for election.
The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) is a political party in the Philippines. It was created as a multi-party electoral alliance replacing the former United Opposition (UNO) coalition for the 2013 midterm elections, before it was launched as a single political party on July 1, 2015 by Jejomar Binay for his candidacy in the 2016 presidential election.
The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) is an electoral tribunal that decides election protests in the Senate of the Philippines. It consists of 6 senators nominated by the Senate, and 3 justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, who are designated by the Chief Justice. The equivalent tribunals for elections to the lower house is the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and to president and vice presidents is Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
The 2016 election of members to the Senate of the Philippines was the 32nd election of members to the Senate of the Philippines. The seats of 12 senators elected in 2010 were filled during this election. The winners in this election joined the winners of the 2013 election to form the 17th Congress of the Philippines. The senators elected in 2013 will serve until June 30, 2019, while the senators elected in this election will serve up to June 30, 2022.
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