Tolentino suspends poll protest vs De Lima

Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino has filed a motion to suspend his poll protest against Senator Leila De Lima, as he guns for a Senate seat again in the 2019 polls.

Tolentino, who ranked 13th in the 2016 senatorial race said there were irregularities in the counting of votes from the previous polls. He said this made De Lima land at the 12th spot — the last slot for the then Senate hopefuls.

“Before I filed my certificate of candidacy, it took me a long, long process if I will file because it might affect the electoral protest which is still pending before the Senate Electoral Tribunal,” he said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

“It’s [for] suspension of proceedings. I still firmly believe that it will take more than three years to resolve it,” he added, lamenting that the poll protest is dragging at the Senate Electoral Tribunal and that the recount of votes is still ongoing.

READ: Presidential Adviser Francis Tolentino files COC for senator

He said, however, that a suspension of his poll protest does not mean recognition of De Lima’s 2016 poll victory.

Tolentino maintains that he should have won in the 2016 elections if two million votes, which he claims have been lost, had been counted under his name.

“I was number 13. De Lima was number 12. But I still maintain that I won that elections,” he said.

Tolentino said he could have placed 12th if no had cheating happened in the 2016 polls.  /muf