PPC, Puwersa trade claims of ‘bawas-bawas’

The administration and opposition parties yesterday traded accusations of cheating in Monday’s local and congressional elections as reports of bawas-bawas (vote shaving) and dagdag-bawas (vote shifting) operations emerged on the eve of the national canvassing of votes.

Conrado Limcaoco, spokesman for the administration’s People Power Coalition (PPC), accused the opposition of spearheading attempts to shave votes off winning PPC candidates, like Francis Pangilinan.

The administration has also expressed fear that PPC senatorial bet Ralph Recto may fall victim to an allegedly opposition-instigated dagdag-bawas scheme where votes shaved from a winning candidate are credited to another candidate outside the winning circle.

"We think Recto may be in some danger (of not making it to the ‘Magic 13.’) Something is not right," said Education Secretary Raul Roco, chairman of the Aksyon Demokratiko, one of the PPC’s partners.

Roco made the statement after meeting with President Arroyo and other representatives of the parties comprising the PPC.

Although the latest unofficial tally of the poll watchdog group Namfrel puts eight PPC candidates in the winning column, the figure is far from stable.

On the other hand, Jesus Crispin Remulla, spokesman of the opposition’s Puwersa ng Masa (PnM), said it was the PPC that was manipulating the counting, insisting PnM did not have the resources to cheat.

Both sides accused each other of paying off municipal or provincial election officials to alter or intentionally enter false data in election returns which will be used in the national canvassing of votes.

Both sides claimed a majority of their candidates won based on pre-election surveys and exit polls.

PPC is basing its claim on the published surveys conducted by independent pollsters Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations (SWS), including an exit poll commissioned by broadcast network ABS-CBN.

PnM, on the other hand, dismissed the surveys and exit polls as "statistically unreliable" and instead based its claim on a "meticulously compiled and analyzed" poll of 285,000 barangay councilmen and community leaders.

PnM also claimed it has copies of "manufactured" election returns that document at least 38 cases of bawas-bawas covering 70 precincts in Metro Manila which "drastically reduced the votes received by frontrunning PnM senatorial candidates."

"But despite these cases of widescale fraud, (leading) PnM senatorial bet Edgardo Angara pointed out the opposition is leading in election tallies in 13 of the country’s 16 regions, including Central Luzon, the home region of (President) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo," the PnM said in a statement.

Former presidential adviser on political affairs Lito Banayo, now campaign manager of PnM bet Panfilo Lacson, said Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao openly admitted that the administration is cheating when he said the government is still "working" toward a 13-0 sweep in the Senate race.

"Tiglao’s statement is an admission that the administration will do everything to get that 13-0 win even if it means cheating at this point of the counting," Banayo said in a statement. – With Efren Danao, Paolo Romero