Zubiri accepts defeat
MANILA – Former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday accepted his defeat after he failed to make it to the so-called “Magic 12” of the May 13 senatorial race and thanked the 11.7 million people who voted for him.
“Now, it is time to move on. It is with great pride that I return to private life as a civilian, knowing what I have done, and that I have given everything I can to help our beloved country,” he said.
He said the results of 2013 senatorial elections tell him that “fate is pointing me to another direction.”
“I look back now at my thirteen years in public service as the best years of my life. I have no regrets and
worked as hard as I could to make a difference in the lives of our people,” he said.
Zubiri placed 14th in the partial and official tally of the National Board of Canvassers (NOBC) Saturday night with 11,707,146 votes.
The proclamation of 12 winning senators, including Zubiri’s political rival Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, was concluded on Saturday.
Pimentel aligned himself with the administration coalition Team PNoy despite being a member of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) after the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) included Zubiri in its line-up.
UNA is a coalition of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s PDP-Laban and Manila mayor-elect Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.
Zubiri expressed his gratitude to Binay and to the people who voted for him, especially those in Northern Mindanao and Bukidnon.
“I owe you all a debt of gratitude that a lifetime would never be able to repay,” he said. Zubiri served as the representative of the third district of Bukidnon for three consecutive terms before he was elected senator in the 2007 midterm elections.
He was the subject of an electoral protest filed by Pimentel in connection with the alleged electoral fraud in several areas in Mindanao carried out by some allies of the Arroyo administration.
He won as a candidate of the administration-backed Team Unity then.
In 2011, Zubiri resigned after certain personalities from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao admitted knowledge in the alleged poll fraud.
Zubiri promised to “continue to do my part to help heal the divisions of this nation, and continue to pray for the success of our leaders.” (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)