GMA on CBCP declaration: It’s the answer to our prayers

CEBU CITY — President Arroyo said yesterday that the declaration made by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) regarding the absence of any conspiracy to commit massive fraud in the May 10 elections has been the "answer" to all her prayers.

Mrs. Arroyo was moved by the CBCP declaration, which came at the end of her "prayer vigil for unity" at the Carmelite Sisters Monastery in Barangay Mabolo here, according to Cerge Remonde, media bureau chief of the administration’s Koalisyon ng Karanasan at Katapatan para sa Kinabukasan (K-4).

"That (CBCP) statement is the answer to our prayers," a very elated Mrs. Arroyo was quoted as saying.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos also said the CBCP declaration was a vindication for the poll body over criticisms that the elections has been a fiasco.

"At least we were able to prove to everybody, particularly those prophets of doom saying that we will fail, that this election will be a failure, that there will be chaos in this election, that somehow we are not ready... They were all proven wrong," Abalos said.

"We were able to push through with the orderly elections and it came from them (bishops). This did not come from us," he added.

After the Mass, Mrs. Arroyo was in high spirits when she arrived for the breakfast reception hosted by Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña at the Cebu Sports Club.

Although she declined to make any comment on The STAR headline story yesterday, Remonde said the President was visibly elated by the CBCP’s declaration.

The CBCP declared the May 10 elections were "generally peaceful" and ruled out a "national conspiracy to engage in massive cheating," contrary to the claims of the opposition.

But the camp of opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) wanted to reverse the declaration, claiming the bishops failed to get their side of the issue.

Poe’s lawyer Rufus Rodriguez said he will seek an audience with the CBCP and present them with evidence that the administration cheated in the May 10 vote.

"We fielded more than 1,200 lawyers all over the country and about 2,000 para-legals during the elections and (during) the tallying, so we know how the cheating was done," Rodriguez said.

"Maybe they (bishops) were not present in all the precincts," he said.

KNP executive committee chairman Sen. Edgardo Angara remained confident that the CBCP statement will not affect their effort to prove the alleged widespread and massive electoral fraud.

KNP senatorial candidate Francisco Tatad said the KNP will present to CBCP president Archbishop Fernando Capalla "a consolidated report of violations of moral principles and law, and specific instances of cheating committed by the administration."

Tatad claimed the CBCP statement was merely part of the administration’s efforts "to make it appear that it (the CBCP) has condoned electoral fraud."

He said the CBCP has yet to meet and discuss its "definitive position in the polls."

KNP vice presidential candidate Sen. Loren Legarda said it has to be ascertained first whether the CBCP indeed issued the statement and was not taken out of context.

Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, KNP executive committee member, also claimed the CBCP has yet to issue a statement.

"I am 101 percent sure that there was no collective decision of the CBCP, that no meeting of bishops took place, that there was no statement issued making such a declaration," Binay told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Binay claimed receiving his information from a "high ranking official of the CBCP" he did not identify.

Although the statement was signed by Capalla as CBCP president, Binay said: "Bishop Capalla may be CBCP president but he’s not the CBCP."

Collective Statement

In a statement, 17 bishops collectively declared yesterday that despite reports of vote buying, disenfranchisement and allegations of cheating, the May 10 elections had been generally "clean, honest and peaceful" in their respective dioceses.

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal said the elections there were "generally fair and relatively peaceful."

Vidal, however, observed "more than the usual chaos and confusion [evidenced by the difficulty] in finding voters’ names and precincts, lack and delayed arrival of election paraphernalia, and lapses of some Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs)."

For his part, Maasin Bishop Precioso Cantillas reported the BEI’s indifference to poll watchers who were denied copies of election returns and their negligence to correctly accomplish said returns. "These problems could have been avoided had the Comelec been conscious of giving ample time to train BEIs," Cantillas said.

There was no massive disenfranchisement in Bohol, according to Fr. Aniceto Polinar, Tagbilaran Social Action director and a coordinator of independent citizen’s poll watchdog National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).

Even if there was widespread vote buying and other electoral fraud as claimed, Polinar said this is "systematic and inherent" in Philippine political culture due to "economic poverty of the Filipinos."

Gumaca, Quezon bishop Buenaventura Famadico said 6,364 voters in the diocese were unable to vote. He also reported incidents of vote buying, flying voters and an attempt on the life of one local candidate. — with Jose Aravilla, Paolo Romero, Nikko Dizon