Arroyo tape scandal centered on Lanao del Sur vote — PCIJ

Of the 10 recorded conversations supposedly between President Arroyo and Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano recorded from May 28 to June 2, 2004, three of these were said to be calls from the President showing a special interest in the canvassing results in Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Post-election accounts show that it was in Lanao del Sur that one of the worst cases of "dagdag-bawas" (vote-padding and -shaving) took place in the May 10, 2004 elections. This charge was made not only by the political opposition but by Namfrel provincial chair Abdullah Dalidig as well.

In the May 29 conversation, the voice alleged to be President Arroyo’s is heard asking the election official if she would still lead by more than one million votes nationwide. The official, who noted that opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr. had been leading in certain places, assured Arroyo: "Mataas ho siya pero mag-compensate po sa Lanao yan." The President, he said, could still get the one-million-plus lead "if we can get more in Lanao," adding that he was still expecting the poll results from seven more municipalities of Lanao del Sur’s 39 provinces. The results from Lanao del Sur were among the last to be transmitted to Congress.

The race between Poe and Arroyo for the presidency was close. In the congressional canvass, Poe beat the President in Luzon and Metro Manila by 1,755,837 votes, but was defeated in the Visayas by 2,323,493 votes. In the Mindanao count, he lost to Arroyo by 300,399 ballots. In the end, the action star was defeated by more than one million votes.

In her alleged June 2 phone call to the elections commissioner, the President sought clarification on a reported discrepancy between the statement of votes (SOVs) and certificates of canvass (COCs) in Lanao del Sur and Basilan. Supposedly, Garcillano gave the President this assurance: "Dun naman sa Basilan at Lanao Sur, ito ho yung ginawa nilang magpataas sa inyo, maayos naman ang paggawa eh…Huwag ho kayong masyadong mabahala. Anyway, we will take care of this. Kakausapin ko rin si Atty. Makalintal."

COCs cover the count at the municipal level and SOVs at the provincial level. Election returns (ERs) are collected at the precinct level.

Then on June 8, the President supposedly made yet another call to Garcillano, shortly after Namfrel’s Dalidig appeared in a press conference at a Quezon City restaurant alleging "dagdag-bawas" in Lanao del Sur. Garcillano offered to attend to the matter by getting Rey Sumalipao, provincial election supervisor of Lanao del Sur, to help. "Rey Sumalipao, the supervisor, is coming, and we will also try to make him say something after this. Pagsasalitain ko sila ho without letting the people know that I am the one who will address it ho," he told the President. (Sumalipao is now Comelec’s assistant regional director for ARMM.)

The final congressional tally shows Arroyo won in Lanao del Sur. She garnered 128,301 votes and Poe 43,302. The President got another 30,447 and Poe 6,805 in the special elections that were subsequently held in Lanao del Sur towns where a failure of elections was declared.

But according to Namfrel’s summary of provincial ERs, which forms part of its June 30, 2004 terminal report on the elections, Poe was leading Arroyo, 42,374 to 32,389, and the opposition’s Loren Legarda beating Noli de Castro, 56,568 to 23,242, in Lanao del Sur. Namfrel tabulated 82.98 percent of the ERs nationwide.

Documents from Namfrel’s chapter in Lanao del Sur illustrate the extent of the alleged vote-padding and -shaving. The most interesting case involved the town of Poona Bayabao. Located about 37 kilometers from Marawi City, this town merited special mention in Garcillano’s May 30 conversation with a certain Rey, whose voice Comelec and ARMM sources identified as that of election supervisor Rey Sumalipao. Sumalipao reported to Garcillano that an en banc order had been issued. He was "to continue with the canvassing but suspend the proclamation."

A copy of the COC that Namfrel obtained of the voting in Poona Bayabao shows President Arroyo and Legarda (it gets the fourth copy) leading their opponents 4,700 to zero. But the ERs that the poll monitor was furnished (Namfrel gets the sixth copy) reveal a big discrepancy: neither Poe nor De Castro obtained zero votes. In two tables prepared later by the Namfrel chapter summarizing the ERs in 13 precincts in Poona Bayabao, Poe got 767 and Arroyo 964, while Legarda obtained 1,252 and De Castro, 350.

Dalidig’s chapter also prepared tables comparing the ERs and COCs in seven other towns: Lambayanague, Taraka, Saguiaran, Marantao, Mulondo, Binidayan and Balindong. Dalidig counted 10,077 more votes in the COC. (Some tables contain computation errors.) According to the Namfrel chapter, the President’s votes were padded by 21,217 votes while Poe’s were shaved by 9,174.

The political report, in its minority report, also identified Poona Bayabao, Tara, Saguiaran, Lumbanayague, Marantao and Mulondo as towns where "dagdag-bawas" purportedly took place. The report also listed the towns of Tubaran, Taguluan II, Masiu and Bulig. By the opposition’s reckoning, a total of 6,986 were added to the President’s votes in the four towns, while Poe’s votes were reduced by 2,680 in Wao. But Congress simply "noted" the minority’s objections and request for a return to the ERs, and proceeded with the canvass.

Since the wiretapped conversations were made public, Dalidig told the Philippine Daily Inquirer he felt vindicated because neither the Namfrel national office nor Congress had paid him heed during the canvassing.

The six to seven Lanao del Sur towns that were still canvassing the votes weeks after the elections were held also formed the subject of Garcillano’s conversations with other people, presumably including Comelec field officers.

The elections commissioner told an unidentified man on May 25 votes might still be obtained in seven towns in Lanao del Sur. "Kung makuha natin yung maximum sa Cotabato at madagdagan ng Lanao Sur, tama yung sinasabi mo," he said.

On the same day, a certain Danny informed Garcillano that the candidate they were helping was reported to have won in six municipalities in Lanao del Sur. He replied: "Mananalo talaga siya. Nandun si Louie, Macarambon eh. Pababantayan ko…" The two then said they should if the candidate were to win by 20,000 to 25,000 votes.

On May 28, Garcillano got a call from a woman that the results from the six towns from Lanao del Sur were arriving in Manila on the last flight from Cagayan de Oro.

Five days later, on June 2, Garcillano is heard telling an unidentified man that "pinagdududahan nga akong nag-kwan sa Lanao Sur." The man had informed Garcillano that former senator Robert Barbers was still expecting the votes from 27 towns in Lanao del Sur. The ex-senator, however, had gotten his numbers all wrong: The counting was over except for only a handful of precincts, not towns.