This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 10, April 9-15, 2006
Ex-Comelec
Exec Says 2004 Poll Fraud Not Yet Closed A
former commissioner of the Commission on Elections said that the issue of
alleged fraud in the 2004 presidential election is not yet closed as documents
on the alleged cheating were shown at a Senate hearing. BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO A former commissioner of
the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that the issue of alleged fraud in
the 2004 presidential election is far from being a closed issue, as documents of
cheating in the 2004 presidential elections were presented at the Senate last
week. “It’s difficult to close
such an issue,” lawyer Mejol Sadain told Bulatlat in an interview. Sadain
retired from the Comelec in February. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
has been hounded by allegations of electoral fraud even before she was
proclaimed winner of the 2004 presidential election. The surfacing in mid-2005
of the so-called “Hello Garci” tapes further fuelled these allegations. In the
tapes, a woman with a voice similar to Arroyo’s instructed an election official,
widely believed to be former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, to rig
the polls in her favor. Comelec Chairman Benjamin
Abalos dismissed the allegations of poll fraud in 2004, saying the issue is a
closed book. “So many questions are
still unanswered, and I think it’s not for the Comelec to immediately say that
there has been no cheating,” Sadain said. “It is for the Comelec to investigate
whether or not there was really cheating. Only thereafter can we say whether or
not there was cheating.” No investigation of
cheating allegations When the “Hello Garci”
tapes surfaced, Sadain issued a memorandum to the commission en banc to
refrain from talking to the media about the issue pending an investigation. The
en banc commission then created a committee to look into the allegations. “The problem was, Chairman
Abalos’ position was that we needed to authenticate the tapes first before we
can use them for the investigation,” Sadain disclosed. Sadain said that Comelec
could have done the investigation even without an authentication of the tapes. “Why wait for the
authentication of the tapes when they themselves mention people – officials of
the Comelec? We are in official possession of documents which were the ones
allegedly used in the cheating. Why don’t we start there? Let’s ask our people,
let’s check our documents, get affidavits,” he said. Nothing came out of the
investigation even as Sadain left the Comelec. “In so far as the documents are
concerned, they didn’t look into any of these,” he said. It is these documents,
Sadain said, that are now surfacing in the ongoing Senate investigation on the
“Hello Garci” controversy. Indications of “election
manipulation” During the Senate hearing
last week, Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra admitted that the 2004
election was marred by irregularities. Sadain said that while he
did not see the documents presented to the Senate, he still believes what Borra
said. “I’m inclined to believe him because he knows the documents and he knows
what he’s talking about. There are really indications that there was election
manipulation particularly in the Muslim areas.” Borra, however, said the
cheating was not done by one party or candidate alone, but was “endemic.”
Sadain agreed, however,
saying that the candidates most capable of cheating are usually those who are
incumbent. “They command a vast array of resources. They are the ones who have
people, who have money, who have power, they’re the ones with the advantage,” he
said. This is the reason the 1987
Constitution prohibits a second term for a sitting president, he added. “Because
the president controls a vast array of resources,” he said. “So if he or she
runs for reelection, he or she can always use this array of resources against
his or her opponents.” A technicality circumvented
the constitutional provision seeking to prevent this, Sadain added. Criticism not
destabilization Asked to comment on Abalos’
recent statement that the renewed allegations of fraud in the 2004 election
“could be part of another destabilization plot,” Sadain chose to give a general
statement. “There can be no
destabilization if there is no weakness in the foundation of the government,” he
said. “Besides, when you criticize certain institutions and institutional
processes, it is unfair to almost always label these criticisms as
destabilization. There are criticisms which are constructive and are aimed to
improve the system. So how could you differentiate constructive criticism from
other forms of criticism if you immediately say that these are destabilization
moves?” Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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