Sun.Star: Acostas lose in Bukidnon

Sun.Star: SAYING she was a victim of dagdag-bawas (vote shaving and padding), Bukidnon Genuine Opposition (GO) congressional candidate Maria Lourdes Acosta refused to concede to her administration rival who won by the slimmest of margins. By 47 votes, Acosta was outmaneuvered by Lakas CMD candidate Candido Pancrudo--the lesser-known aspirants in the three-cornered fight for the province's first district congressional seat. Her loss stunned supporters and even poll observers, who had expected her to win after controversial ex-elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano conceded defeat. "Grabe gyud. Garapalan ang pag-panikas sa kontra aron lang di masulod sa kongreso ang usa ka oposisyon (Terrible. The cheating by the other side was brazen in order to prevent the entry of the opposition in Congress)," she told reporters Saturday. Acosta, sister of outgoing Representative Nerius Acosta, was leading in unofficial counts when Garcillano admitted defeat hours after the May 14 elections. In a press conference over the weekend, Malou, together with her brother and the family's matriarch, Manolo Fortich Mayor Socorro Acosta, blamed her defeat to the election rigging that allegedly started even before last Monday's elections started. Socorro failed in her re-election bid in Manolo Fortich, while Nerius launched an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign against incumbent Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri. The Acostas spoke of an "elaborate Garci-style" election cheating, designed to wipe them out from the political map of Bukidnon, referring to Garcillano, who allegedly conspired with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to rig the 2004 presidential elections. They questioned the "suspicious" deployment of army troops in Talakag and other vote-rich towns in the first district--hinting that government soldiers may have been used in "ballot box switching" and other forms of electoral fraud. The Army's Fourth Infantry Division (4th ID) immediately denied it had deployed additional troops to said areas, saying militias and Army regulars from nearby detachments had been posted there to prevent election-related violence. Weeks before the elections, the Acostas had voiced apprehensions over reports of ready-made ballots with the names of administration candidates on written them. The Comelec, however, denied the reports, while Governor Zubiri maintained the administration was not involved in any plot to rig the elections. Malou, who is a member of the Liberal Party, said her lawyers were seriously considering filing an election protest to question Pancrudo's victory. Nerius, meanwhile, has already conceded defeat to Zurbiri, saying his campaign has strategically positioned him for the 2010 elections, when Zubiri can no longer run as he is on his last term. Socorro, for her part, said her defeat signals her retirement from politics. "I leave it up to the new generation to continue the fight," she said.