Chavez, Patriots accuse GMA of election irregularities

Backed by a computer-based presentation system, losing senatorial candidate Frank Chavez accused President Arroyo of "robbing" taxpayers of P15.5 billion in public funds.

In his computer-assisted presentation, Chavez enumerated the government projects and programs he suspects of having financed Mrs. Arroyo’s campaign.

Among them are the PhilHealth Cards program (P9.82 billion), the municipal building fund (P7.3 billion), the "Kalsada Natin, Alagaan Natin" project (P2.3 billion), and the Students for Strong Republic program (P200 million).

But the Chavez presentation appeared to have more show than substance as the former solicitor general admitted not having "proof" that the money intended for the projects was really diverted to Mrs. Arroyo’s bid for the presidency.

"I have no proof that all of it was touched for GMA’s campaign, but this is not to say that the funds were not touched. The government toyed with roughly P15.5 billion of taxpayers’ money," he said.

Chavez had already filed two plunder charges against Mrs. Arroyo for what he termed the "dubious" release of agricultural funds, totaling P2.2 billion.

In the same press conference, the election watchdog group Patriots announced that they were ready to submit their 58-page report on the May 10 elections.

Patriots convenor Father Joe Dizon said his group will submit the report, which is expected to condemn the elections as "tainted" by widespread fraud, to Malacañang, the Commission on Elections and Congress.

Dizon said the report would also be made available to any party that wants to file criminal and administrative charges against those involved in fraud. He explained that Patriots did not have the legal personality to make such move.

Dizon said that monitoring by Patriots and its partners had "established a nationwide pattern of dirty and bloody election."

Specific mention was made of alleged threats made by the military and the police against "progressive" party-list groups like the Bayan Muna and Anakpawis.

The activist priest also disputed statements made by prominent Church-backed bodies such as the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) asserting that the elections were "generally peaceful" and that incidents of fraud were "localized and isolated."

Chavez, who believes that Fernando Poe Jr. won the election by 800,000 votes, said he was not "rooting" for the movie actor but simply wanted "to protect the sanctity of the ballot."