Abalos accused of rigging 2007 polls

By Marlon Ramos, Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

 5share21 15

Two provincial poll supervisors have accused then Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos of rigging the 2007 senatorial balloting to favor Arroyo administration candidates.

Rebutting the charges, Abalos on Monday said that while he was still Comelec chief he had ordered the two poll supervisors—Lilian Suan-Radam of South Cotabato and Yogie Martirizar of North Cotabato—arrested for sabotaging the vote.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Radam and Martirizar had executed an affidavit saying Abalos had ordered them personally to ensure a 12-0 sweep of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s senatorial slate in their provinces.

De Lima said she informed President Benigno Aquino III before his departure on Sunday night for a five-day visit to the United States about the “explosive” disclosures of the two supervisors that she said could shake up the Comelec.

She said Mr. Aquino ordered a joint Comelec-Department of Justice panel to investigate the charges, “determine the truth and make the people (involved) accountable.”

“Those are very serious allegations and you should pursue and make sure that there are cases that will be filed,” De Lima quoted the President as telling her.

“The President is really alarmed,” she said. “It’s very alarming and disturbing that the special instructions came no less from the former chair of the Comelec, and ostensibly on instructions from the Palace officials at the time.”

“This is the first time that a (former) chair of the Comelec will be put to a serious test with this investigation. It’s only now that somebody pointed to him,” De Lima said.

Asked if now Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was implicated, De Lima said: “While there may not be a direct hit in so far as Palace personalities are concerned, I think there are enough facts there which provide significant leads to trace who were really involved.”

Abalos denies raps

Reached on his mobile phone, Abalos said he was “surprised” that the same people whom he had ordered arrested in May 2007 “are now being glorified.” He questioned the credibility of Martirizar and Radam.

He said he had ordered the arrest of the two poll supervisors after discrepancies were found in the election documents they had submitted to the Comelec as it was canvassing the votes in their respective regions.

“These people are fugitives from the law and now all of a sudden they are being treated as heroes. They have been hiding for the past four years. Why are they coming out now?”

Abalos said he did not have “direct dealing” with the supervisors, saying it was Election Commissioner Rene Sarmiento who was assigned to oversee the elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

Citing a possible threat on their security, De Lima placed Martirizar and Radam under provisional coverage of the Witness Protection Program.

The two women, looking nervous but composed, appeared at a news conference with De Lima.

Isafp implicated

Radam said she had received calls purportedly from the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) telling her to keep silent.

She said she and Martirizar finally came out in the open “because this time there is an investigation going on and those doing the investigation are ready to listen to us.”

Both Martirizar and Radam said in their respective sworn statements that the order to rig the vote to favor Arroyo candidates and certain party-list representatives came from their “handlers” from Isafp—a Captain Peter Reyes and a Major Joey Lleaban—and then acting Regional Director Michael Abas.

However, Martirizar and Radam also said in their separate affidavits that as Election Day neared, Abalos himself called for another meeting in Davao City with Abas, provincial election supervisors and regional directors during which Abalos reiterated the instructions for a 12-0 win of all administration candidates.

“It is emphasized that the instructions (came) from the top, which we clearly understood to be the President,” Radam said.

Martirizar said that Abalos told them that on Election Day, May 14, the election supervisors would be provided with “extra copies of statement of votes (SoVs), certificate of proclamations and other election forms bearing the same serial number as what was officially issued to our province, and that we should use the same to alter the results.”

Abalos also said the election supervisors would be provided “with anything that we need including persons who will help us do the work,” Martirizar said.

She added that Abalos, after the meeting, approached her and told her that her “future” in the Comelec was in his hands “so I have to follow him or else I would be terminated from service.”

Favored candidates

The day before Election Day, Martirizar said Abas gave her a list of senatorial candidates that should be in the top 12: Ralph Recto; Miriam Defensor-Santiago; Prospero Pichay; Joker Arroyo; Vic Magsaysay; and Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

On Election Day, Martirizar’s military handler, Reyes, reminded her of the “12-0 instructions.”

She said she tried to reason that it was difficult to alter the results because there were lawyers and watchers during the canvassing, and that her initial assessment showed that it would be “impossible” to have a 12-0 result.

Martirizar told Reyes that then senatorial candidates Loren Legarda, Panfilo Lacson and Francis Escudero received “very high number of votes.”

Reyes called up somebody, she said, and then handed her a “priority list”: Edgardo Angara, Arroyo, Magsaysay, Recto and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Radam, for her part, said that she told her military handlers that only Angara and Arroyo could have the possibility of landing in the Top 12, “or at most, Zubiri.”

When she also said that it would be difficult to alter the votes because of the candidates’ watchers, Radam’s handlers told her that a way had been devised to give high votes to Defensor, Recto, Angara, Arroyo, Pichay, Zubiri, Sotto and Magsaysay.

She said she was also instructed to shave off at least 100,000 votes from then senatorial candidates Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Both Radam and Martirizar were told that they were constantly being monitored by the military and that even their phones, including Abas’, was being tapped.

Radam said that persons she did not know had prepared the election results and had also placed these inside the ballot box to be submitted to the national board of canvassers.

She said she wasn’t even able to go over the documents.

There were also three people, allegedly from Malacañang, who gave Martirizar the blank election documents “with exactly the same serial numbers as that of the official copies already distributed to different municipalities.”

The forms, they told Martirizar, came from Abalos and Malacañang.

Original posted: 7:25 pm | Monday, September 19th, 2011