GMA, Mike A face life imprisonment over poll fraud - Comelec

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes disclosed yesterday that former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo could face life imprisonment if they are convicted of rigging the 2007 elections in Maguindanao.

Brillantes said tampering with the results of the 2007 polls and other elections thereafter constitutes electoral sabotage under Republic Act 9369 or the Poll Automation Law.

“If you look at the magnitude of votes involved, it is definitely tantamount to electoral sabotage. The (14) election officers (EOs) that we presented could prove there were irregularities that took place in the 2007 elections there. That’s a lot of votes,“ he said.

The joint investigating panel of the Comelec and the Department of Justice (DOJ) had presented the other day 14 EOs and one Computerized Voter’s List technician from 15 towns in Maguindanao who have issued separate affidavits that they canvassed election returns (ERs) that were pre-prepared.

The results of the canvassing had posted a 12-0 win in favor of the senatorial candidates of Mrs. Arroyo’s Team Unity (TU) administration slate.

Brillantes added that there are 22 municipalities in Maguindanao and other EOs are also willing to testify that there was rampant poll cheating in the province in 2007.

The Comelec-DOJ panel had also presented former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas who “categorically and directly linked the Arroyo couple to the manipulation of the province’s elections to gain a 12-0 victory for the TU senatorial bets.”

Unas claimed that the Arroyos had instructed former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., for whom he worked from 2001 to 2009, to make the candidates win.

Under the law, it is considered electoral sabotage “when the tampering, increase and/or decrease of votes perpetrated or the refusal to credit the correct votes or to deduct tampered votes, is/are committed in the election of a national elective office.”

Electoral sabotage shall also involve more than 10,000 votes that have been tampered to increase or decrease. This offense is punishable with life imprisonment.

Unas’ affidavit, however, reflected discrepancies from the affidavit executed by jailed Maguindanao provincial election supervisor (PES) Lintang Bedol in July when he surfaced after hiding for four years.

Unas said Bedol was involved in the anomaly.

He said that the Board of Election Inspectors and EOs were under the “operational and administrative supervision and control” of Bedol who was tasked by Ampatuan to carry out the order of the Arroyos.

“They reported directly to PES Bedol. I had no actual knowledge or participation as to how the election documents were to be filled up or accomplished to ensure the 12-0 win by administration senatorial candidates,” he maintained.

Unas added that his “actual participation was to comply with the instruction of Gov. Ampatuan to provide logistical support to the Comelec people.”

Brillantes said the panel has been asking Bedol to give a supplemental affidavit to help shed light on what actually happened in Maguindanao in 2007.

Malacañang said there is credence in the testimony of Unas, who directly linked the Arroyo couple to electoral fraud in the May 2007 senatorial polls.

In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the affidavit of Unas is the most damaging and incriminating piece of evidence against the former first couple.

“This is personal knowledge. We asked if it is hearsay, but this is personal knowledge. So under the rules of evidence, personal knowledge is a very strong evidence,” the lawyer-Cabinet member stressed.

Lacierda also said this is a welcome development for the Aquino administration, whose main thrust is anti-corruption, particularly because Ms. Arroyo, now a congresswoman of Pampanga, is the highest official to be involved in such electoral fraud.

“Well, the only thing that we are aware of is that Mr. Unas is the first person to be able to identify and to testify and to have personal knowledge that the (former) President ordered the 12-0 in the 2007 election,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson revealed that there is another election officer who would corroborate the claims of Unas that the Arroyos have knowledge of the fraud during 2007 elections.

Lacson said there is a second witness who approached the Senate to provide more details on how Unas and his team “maneuvered” the votes of the opposition candidates, how fake election returns were made and transported.

“The initial information we have is that the ERs were transported to Bukdinon first before they were brought to Maguindanao,” Lacson said.

He said the new witness who will surface would corroborate Unas’ statement.

“He (second witness) knows details on the fake ERs which came from Comelec, and then transported to Bukidnon then Maguindanao,” Lacson added.

With the revelations of the second witness, Lacson vouched for the credibility of Unas since he was the so-called “operator” of then Maguindanao Gov. Ampatuan Sr.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate committee on electoral reforms, said he is consulting with his colleagues as to when they would be available for the first hearing on poll fraud.

Pimentel said he also received information on how the fake electoral returns were transported during the canvassing of the 2007 elections, adding that the paraphernalia also passed through Cagayan de Oro City.

Sen. Francis Escudero welcomed the statements of Unas, who first made the revelation before the joint panel of the Comelec and the DOJ.

Escudero challenged the Arroyo couple to face the accusations against them rather than blaming the Aquino administration over the exposés.

“They were the ones who made something wrong, a violation of law, so they should answer the allegations, they should not muddle the issue,” Escudero said. – With Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez