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Additionally, RA 7166 states that only "manifest errors (i.e. appearing on the face) in the
certificate of canvass or election returns may be corrected. The Court cited the case of Sanchez
v. COMELEC which further defined the characteristics for such manifest errors under the
Omnibus Election Code: the election returns are incomplete or contain material defects (sec.
234), appear to have been tampered with, falsified or prepared under duress (sec. 235) and/or
contain discrepancies in the votes credited to any candidate, the difference of which affects the
result of the election (sec. 236). Francisco Chavezs complaint that Chavez votes were not
counted in his favor clearly does not fall under any of the elements listed in the Omnibus Code.
In the absence of any manifest error, the Court further states that Franciscos proper
recourse would be to take up the case to the Senate Electoral Tribunal. Under Article VI, Section
17 of the Constitution, "(t)he Senate and the House of Representatives shall each have an
Electoral Tribunal which shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns,
and qualifications of their respective Members" The word sole emphasizes that only the
Tribunal has jurisdiction over election contests over their respective members which, as worth
noting in this case, includes members of the Senate. Thus, the Court does not have jurisdiction to
entertain Francisco Chavezs petition and must therefore dismiss it for lack of merit.