No doubt Loren was cheated in '04 -- Brillantes

Senator Loren Legarda was able to prove without any doubt that she was a victim of massive cheating in the 2004 vice presidential election, her lawyer Sixto Brillantes said yesterday.

Brillantes issued the statement in response to the claim made by a lawyer of Noli de Castro that the election protest of Loren against De Castro should be dismissed by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) allegedly for lack of merit.

But Loren herself refused to comment on the latest tirade against her by De Castro's lawyer out of deference to the honorable justices of the Supreme Court, who are sitting as members of the PET.

Loren said the matter is best resolved by the PET through the proper appreciation of the pieces of evidence she had presented.

"My compañero has become the lone voice in the wilderness, in that he is the only one who claims, against the preponderance of contrary evidence, that the 2004 elections had been clean," Brillantes said.

De Castro's camp only has itself to blame if the case has dragged for over three years now because of the dilatory tactics "it employed every step of the way in a failed bid to derail Senator Legarda's protest," Brillantes stressed.

Loren has provided the PET testimonial and documentary evidence to prove she was cheated in 2004, including through the switching of election returns in Lanao del Sur , her lawyer added.

"She fought the good fight and the result of the 2007 senatorial elections, which she topped by garnering over 18 million votes, and her constantly topping the surveys as the most trusted Filipino prove the people believe in her and are supporting her cause," he said.

Loren also topped the 1998 senatorial elections.

Brillantes noted that De Castro's lawyer is now speaking about the merits of the case when before the 2007 elections he had been proclaiming that Loren's election protest would be dismissed out of technicality.

"Now they have put their technicality argument at the backburner after the PET, contrary to their hopes, did not dismiss Loren's election protest on account of her running for senator last May," said Brillantes.

"If we go by the merits, then that's a no-contest really in favor of Loren," Brillantes said. "This is because they failed miserably to refute the evidence showing the 2004 vice presidential election was marred by massive fraud," he said.