2007 Philippine Senate election

The Old COMELEC Building after being razed by fire on March 11, 2007.

On March 11, 2007, the Old COMELEC Building in Intramuros, Manila was burned by a blazing fire ruining several ballot boxes and pending election protests. The Genuine Opposition considered the fire as political act which ended in burning of several election protests and contested ballot boxes. Investigators found out that instead of arson, it was the generator of the building which caused and since the building was built with tar and wood it would easily razed by fire. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) faced scrutiny because of the fire that hit its old building on March 11 resulting in speculations of conspiracies to cheat on the May 14 elections.[2] The COMELEC was also lambasted for publishing on the internet the names, addresses and details of registered voters. [3]

Three people with the name Aquino filed their candidacies (Benigno Aquino III, Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Theodore Aquino), and there was confusion as to who is credited with a vote if someone wrote only "Aquino" on the ballot. Since Theodore Aquino was disqualified because he had dual citizenship and former Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta has the last name Oreta, COMELEC ruled that all votes with only the name Aquino would go to Tarlac Rep. Benigno Aquino III. All three Aquinos are related to each other.

The matter was the same as the Aquino issue. Representative Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros) found out that a certain Joselito Cayetano belonging to the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) filed his candidacy with the nickname "Peter" which was really "Jojo". Alan therefore filed a disqualification case (SPA 07-019) against Jojo. Jojo was declared a nuisance candidate by the COMELEC resolution on March 27, 2007.

Jojo then filed for a motion for reconsideration which was eventually rejected on May 11, 2007, but COMELEC did not remove his name from the Official List of Senatorial Candidates and ruled on May 12, 2007, that all votes with only the name "CAYETANO" will be stray votes (discarded) and therefore not counted to either the candidates until Supreme Court resolved the matter. The COMELEC said that Jojo could file a motion for reconsideration at the Supreme Court within five days.

TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) Unity was the administration-backed coalition composed mostly of supporters and erstwhile critics of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. TEAM Unity sought to take several Senate seats in order to ensure the passage of President Arroyo's legislative programs and also to protect her from any impeachment attempts by the political opposition after the midterm elections. This coalition is composed by different major political parties including Lakas—Christian Muslim Democrats, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino, Nationalist People's Coalition, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, and Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas. The coalition's campaign team was headed by veteran political strategist Reli German as campaign manager, together with Tourism Secretary Ace Durano as spokesperson and Ike Rodriguez as campaign director. TEAM Unity held their proclamation rally at the Cebu Coliseum on February 17, 2007.

Genuine Opposition (GO) was the main opposition-backed coalition of the parties' senatorial line-up for the elections, which was in opposition to President Arroyo. It was originally called the "United Opposition" (UNO), created by opposition stalwart and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay in June 2005 to unite all politicians who sought to impeach President Arroyo. UNO then reorganized itself and changed its name to Grand and Broad Coalition (GBC), with the UNO party under that coalition. On February 15, 2007, the group changed its name again to Genuine Opposition after a meeting with Senate President Manny Villar in his office in Las Piñas.

Candidates who were not make it to the top 12, but were within the margin of error from the 12th-placed candidate, are denoted by figures inside the parenthesis.

^1 replaced by Koko Pimentel as a result of an election protest.

This table depicts the totals after the Senate Electoral Tribunal's 2011 decision on Pimentel v. Zubiri electoral protest.

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Up	Before	Won	After	+/−
	Lakas–CMD	59,611,489	22.19	−9.55	2	5	0	3	−2
	Nationalist People's Coalition	48,767,467	18.15	New	0	0	2	2	+2
	United Opposition	33,965,907	12.64	New	1	1	2	2	+1
	Liberal Party	28,844,027	10.74	−1.06	3	5	2	4	−1
	Nacionalista Party	27,126,091	10.10	New	1	2	2	3	+1
	Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino	12,657,769	4.71	New	1	2	1	2	0
	Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino	11,803,107	4.39	New	1	1	1	1	0
	PDP–Laban	10,898,786	4.06	New	1	2	1	2	0
	Aksyon Demokratiko	8,457,748	3.15	−0.53	0	0	0	0	0
	Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas	2,488,994	0.93	New	0	0	0	0	0
	Kilusang Bagong Lipunan	2,436,294	0.91	+0.70	0	0	0	0	0
	Ang Kapatiran	1,877,313	0.70	New	0	0	0	0	0
	Philippine Green Republican Party	123,608	0.05	New	0	0	0	0	0
	Independent	19,605,877	7.30	−0.52	0	0	1	1	New
	People's Reform Party				0	1	0	1	0
	Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino				1	4	0	2	−2
Vacancy					1	1	0	1	0
Total		268,664,477	100.00	–	12	24	12	24	0
Total votes		29,498,660	–
Registered voters/turnout		45,029,443	65.51

The 12th Senate seat was contested between TEAM Unity's Juan Miguel Zubiri and GO's Koko Pimentel Zubiri was proclaimed In July 2007 with a margin of about 20,000 votes,[14] but Pimentel filed an electoral protest to the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), which the tribunal accepted, alleging there was massive electoral fraud in Maguindanao.[15] After the revision of votes on Pimentel's protest in July 2009, he released a statement that he now leads Zubiri by 96,000 votes;[16] Zubiri countered that his counter-protest that alleges similar fraud in Mega Manila has him leading by around 132,000 votes in areas affected by his counter protest.[16]

In July 2011, suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan and Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol alleged that there was indeed fraud in the ARMM in favor of TEAM Unity.[17] On August 3, 2011, Zubiri resigned, maintaining that he had no hand in alleged electoral fraud in the ARMM.[18] He withdrew his counter-protest,[19] which led to the SET to proclaim Pimentel as the winner on August 11, 2011.[20] Pimentel took his oath at Mati, Davao Oriental, where he had the highest rank among the provinces, finishing in second place.[21]

Pimentel sued former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, COMELEC chairman Benjamin Abalos, Maguinadanao elections supervisor Lintang Bedol and others for electoral sabotage on August 17, 2011, at the Department of Justice (DOJ).[22] A joint DOJ-COMELEC panel began investigations on Pimentel's suit by November 3.[23] On November 18, 2011, the commission voted to file charges against Arroyo and others at the Pasay Regional Trial Court, which later ordered Arroyo, Abalos and Bedol arrested later in the day.[24]