Panlilio asks Comelec to stop Pampanga recount

Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop the recount of the gubernatorial race as he accused his rival, Lilia Pineda, of indirect bribery. In his nine-page petition filed by his lawyer Sixto Brillantes, Panlilio said Pineda’s group has been distributing food and drinks to Comelec personnel conducting the recount. Panlilio said the personnel who are allegedly being fed by Pineda’s camp should be identified through a proper investigation. "In order to ensure the continued impartiality of the commission personnel supervising the entire ongoing revision process – that the revision be suspended pending identification of the involved personnel," Panlilio's petition read. Panlilio also asked the Comelec to replace its personnel involved in the recount. Pineda, a former provincial board member who is allied with President Gloria Macapagal, has also been distributing food and drinks to her own personnel supervising the recount, Panlilio claimed. "Such giving and distribution of snacks and food and drinks, not only to its own people but to the Commission personnel… is a glaring manifestation of one party flaunting his illicit acts in public clearly designed to gain undue favor from the Commission," the petition read. Pineda has accused Panlilio, who temporarily left priesthood, of committing election fraud that enabled him to win by only 1,147 in the 2007 elections. Comelec chairman Jose Melo had ordered the 21 revision teams to finish the recount in 45 days. The recount involves more than 4,800 ballot boxes. - GMANews.TV