3 witnesses ready to talk on 2004 poll fraud

February 21, 2008

Three new witnesses are willing to bare all on the systematic cheating operations in Mindanao, where President Arroyo supposedly got the crucial numbers that gave her the presidency through a 1 million vote-lead over opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 elections.

The vote-rigging scandal that was exposed through the so-called “Hello Garci” tapes implicating the First Couple, is expected to be revived soon with the three new witnesses who were part of the fraud operations in the region.

At least three of them (witnesses) are now willing to testify and tell all on their alleged massive cheating operations, according to Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, who was approached by the three last week.

Biazon, however, said the Senate will first assess what the three are willing to divulge before making a decision on whether to revive the hearings on the Hello Garci scandal.

Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security, was on top of the probe into the Hello Garci tapes scandal two years ago. The Senate inquiry focused on the alleged participation of four military generals in the poll fraud operations.

Their testimonies were seen to back up allegations that Shari’ah Circuit Court Judge Nagamura Moner supposedly acted as the Palace’s “pointman” in 2004 cheating operations.

Mrs. Arroyo’s husband First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo personally solicited the services of Moner through the intercession of Moner’s brother-in-law Efren Bollozor and Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Alfonso Cusi.

Moner was scheduled to give his testimony before the Senate in November 2005 but went missing along with three other witnesses after supposedly receiving huge amounts of money in exchange for their disappearance.

The Tribune previously ran a story on Moner’s affidavit that the Senate committee on national defense and security got hold of but did not enter into its record because it was unsigned.

Biazon, in an interview, said he was not about to jump into reconvening his committee to conduct anew on the matter as they have yet to terminate the proceedings.

“I will have to evaluate the (testimonies of the) three new witnesses and then two old witnesses, if they will surface again.

“They may go missing again. Somebody may block their testimonies and be sent to Hong Kong or London. Although they have approached us, the three will be required to submit affidavits and then I will have to read before I make a decision on reopening the proceedings,” he told the Tribune.

Asked if their testimonies carry much weight as far as corroborating the allegations of supposed massive cheating operations in Mindanao, Biazon said “definitely.”

Biazon said, however, there is a possibility, should the probe be reopened, to call Moner as witness.

“The indications are that, you could expect him to come out whether the hearing will be held here, in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. There is already a resolution filed in the House of Representatives for the reopening of the Hello Garci issue and this time the focus will be on what happened to the ballot boxes and the election returns which was then at the custody of the House of Representatives,” he said.

“The Hello Garci hearings were not terminated, it was just sidetracked by the issuance of EO 464,” he said.

Biazon was referring to the time when Brig. Gen. (ret.) Francisco Gudani and Lt. Col. Alexander Balutan openly testified before his committee attesting to the alleged poll fraud in Mindanao.

Immediately after their appearance in the Senate that same day, Malacañang issued EO 464 barring Gudani and Balutan from further testifying and eventually covering other officials under the Executive department.

Biazon said he is bracing for the possibility of handling once again the Garci tapes hearing in view of the events that have recently unfolded.

“Are we now witnessing in our midst certain unacceptable issues being raised against the administration ranging from the Garci tapes, (the alleged anomaly in the construction of the) Macapagal Boulevard, Northrail, fertilizer scam, Venable contract and now ZTE.

“The Garci tapes issue may surface again because of the sudden willingness of new witnesses to testify and because of a growing sentiment for its reopening from some other directions. For example, the (call made by the) CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) and the speech of former Speaker De Venecia,” he said.

Biazon said it’s fortunate that he got hold of the Moner affidavit even if this was unsigned, along with a taped execution of the latter’s testimony provided by his then lawyer Roel Pulido.

Moner, in the unsigned affidavit, denounced the acts of Cusi, Mr. Arroyo and other cheating operators during the 2004 elections.

This early, some of Biazon’s colleagues were already throwing support to the reopening of the probe into the case.

Senators Francis Escudero and Panfilo Lacson immediately backed the idea saying there is a need to put a closure on the issue especially since it continues to hound not only the administration but the entire country.

The Tribune ran a story in Nov. 23, 2005 on the three of the so-called surprise witnesses in the Senate’s investigation into the alleged poll-rigging in Mindanao, first featured in a recent television documentary show, who went missing including Moner.

Moner alleged to have acted as bagman of Mr. Arroyo, the purported brains and financier of their “operations.”

Their sudden disappearance prompted the Senate committee on national defense to call off the scheduled public hearing, a continuation of the probe into the alleged poll fraud operations in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, Sulu, Sultan Kudarat and other provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) scheduled later that week.

The report on their whereabouts came just as the wife of former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano claimed he had returned to the country.

The Sharia’h judge issued a signed statement to the Senate, through Biazon, where he detailed his having been tapped by the presidential couple to cheat for President Arroyo, allegedly.

In his statement, Moner also wrote down a conversation between him and Mrs. Arroyo, which was held at the Pryce Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City shortly after the Hello Garci tapes surfaced where he stated that the President asked whether he had already talked to now airport manager Cusi and how many times, as well as asked Moner if he had received the package which contained P2 million wrapped in a blue plastic bag, to keep his mouth shut about the poll-rigging operations.

President Arroyo’s election lawyer Romulo Macalintal yesterday shrugged off the plan of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and of some senators to resume investigations into the controversial Hello Garci wiretap scandal.

In a statement, Macalintal said any investigation by any agency, like the House of Representatives, on the alleged poll fraud in 2004 was rendered moot and academic by the resolution of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) dismissing with finality the election protest of Sen. Loren Legarda, then a vice presidential bet vs. now Vice President Noli de Castro.

“The resolution clearly states that there’s no evidence of massive cheating in 2004 and no spurious returns or election documents proven. There’s no evidence of break in at the House of Representatives where the returns were stored; nor is there evidence of substitution of genuine returns with fake returns,” he said.

Macalintal said this belied earlier claims that there were witnesses to be presented to prove poll fraud happened in the 2004 elections.

“If there’re such witnesses, why were they not presented before the PET the very tribunal mandated by the Constitution to resolve such issue. The PET even ruled that even Legarda’s own witness testified that there was no such break in nor substitution of returns. This clears all doubt on the issue of legitimacy of President Arroyo and De Castro’s proclamation,” he said.

Macalintal said instead of conducting another politically motivated investigation re-2004 polls, it is now time for all concerned leaders to move forward and work together for better electoral reforms to ensure clean honest and credible polls in 2010.

“Unless this is done, our dream of computerized polls in 2010 will be in vain and we will find ourselves barcing with the same primitive system of manual voting and manual counting ballots. Time is running out for computerized 2010 polls. The time to act is now, not later,” he said.

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