Comelec: Sanchez daughter may watch, not intervene in poll recount

THE Commission on Elections second division threw out Grecylda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero’s motion to intervene in the poll protest filed against her father, the late vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr., by businessman Glenn Soco.

But the poll body said Zaballero may observe the recount of votes of last year’s race for vice governor, “without the right to register her comments, manifestations and/or objections on the ballots or election returns.”

Presiding Commissioner Lucenito Tagle denied Zaballero’s motion to intervene for lack of merit, saying she is not a “party of interest” in the case.

Soco, who lodged the protest against Sanchez, questioned Zaballero’s presence in the recount.

Soco earlier let his lawyers handle the proceedings but flew to Manila upon hearing about Zaballero’s observer status.

“What are they trying to imply with their statement ‘trying to protect the votes of her father.’ Why? Were the votes manipulated?” Soco told reporters.

He said a watcher from his camp saw Zaballero going in and out of Tagle’s office and roaming the Comelec premises since Monday.

Zaballero flew to Manila on Monday with her relatives to witness the recount and filed a motion for leave of intervention.

She said her “only and primordial consideration in wanting to intervene is to ensure that the will of the voters is made known fair and square.”

“I want to witness and see that the counting is exact,” she said.

Sanchez garnered 543,924 votes against Soco’s 517,687 in the May 2010 elections. /Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus