BOOK REVIEW

Robbing the 2004 Polls

Review of Fraud: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the May 2004 Elections (CenPEG, 2006)

Fraud: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the May 2004 Elections is a daunting read. With over 400 pages, the book is hefty and heavy; but it is neither the weight nor the number of the pages that makes it difficult to read. It is the dead-serious content. With the 2007 national elections just around the corner, to read Fraud is a must-do.

BY INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO

Contributed to Bulatlat

Fraud: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the May 2004 Elections is a daunting read. With over 400 pages, the book is hefty and heavy; but it is neither the weight nor the number of the pages that makes it difficult to read. It is the dead-serious content. With the 2007 national elections just around the corner, to read Fraud is a must-do.

Electoral integrity is arguably one of the most important political issues to face the Filipino people since the EDSA 1 uprising and the ouster of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Not since the 1986 elections when Corazon Aquino ran against Marcos has the issue of electoral fraud hogged the headlines. From 2004 up to now, election-related issues like legal deception, graft and corruption have not been resolved. These issues and the consequent failure of the incumbent administration to clear itself and convince the public of its innocence, coupled with incidences of political killings and human rights violations, raised the question of whether or not democracy still exists in the Philippines.

The grounds for righteously questioning the integrity of the May 2004 elections, as laid down all throughout Fraud are simple, straightforward and not easily disputable: the redirection of public funds towards Macapagal-Arroyo's campaign kitty; the reports from all over the nation regarding the outright manipulation of records of counted and tallied votes; and, last but not the least, Macapagal-Arroyo's own admission that she did talk to Garcillano on the eve of the polls. In short, the book describes and goes deep into the workings of the system the Macapagal-Arroyo camp established specifically and deliberately to facilitate fraud.

The book leaves no doubt in the readers' mind as it accuses Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies of committing electoral fraud. Names are mentioned and so are places, dates and circumstances accounted for. From the lowest baranggay (village) official to the high-ranking generals and all the way up to Malacanang, the book does not spare anyone who has had even the slightest involvement in the infamous scheme to give Macapagal-Arroyo another six years in office.

What proved to be unexpected was the naiveté of those responsible for electoral fraud that they would not get caught. Either they underestimated the intelligence and vigilance of concerned groups and individuals or they actually believed that their plan was fool-proof.

What proves to be most infuriating about the May 2004 elections, as the book points out, is that the main perpetrators did not even cover their tracks cleanly. Proof of electoral fraud and related dirty dealings were coming out of the woodwork and there were periodic reports affirming the desperation of Macapagal-Arroyo to remain in power.  

The book gives a comprehensive and detailed look into the circumstances that surrounded the May 2004 elections. The term “blow-by-blow account” comes to mind, as the book contains, among others, the complete findings and recommendations of the Citizens' Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA); and the True Report, or the report made by the Minority bloc of the 13^th Congress of the House of Representatives on the presidential polls.

Dark Panoply of Forms of Fraud

The May 2004 electoral fraud came in a dark panoply of forms. As dissected in the book, fraud, Macapagal-Arroyo style, ranged from procedural violations of electoral law (violations which the book asserts were intended to distort the poll results), to the outright use of violence, harassment and political repression not only against voters, but even against the media, independent observers, incidental and accidental whistle-blowers, members of the political opposition and progressive party-list groups and people's organizations. To ensure Macapagal-Arroyo's victory, her henchmen did not stop at ballot-rigging. Even as they evidently saw ballot rigging – vote shaving and padding – as integral parts of electoral competition, they must have resolved that it would not be enough.

In the introduction titled “Fraud in the 2004 elections,” Rodolfo Desuasido traces the steps the administration camp took to ensure Macapagal-Arroyo's victory in May 2004.  He refreshes the readers' memory and reminds them of the scandals that hogged the headlines and were eventually exposed to be among the first elements of the Arroyo camp's game plan – redirecting the 2003 national budget; siphoning public funds and using them for Macapagal-Arroyo's promotion and publicity campaign; assigning henchmen to key positions in the National Printing Office (NPO) – which prints the ballots and other official election paraphernalia) – and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Desuasido also gives a detailed description of how the electoral fraud was perpetrated, first with the expertise of “master operator” former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, and then with the railroading of the canvassing of election returns in Congress. He reminds the reader of the infamous day and hour, June 23 at 3 a.m., when Macapagal-Arroyo was proclaimed winner of the May 2004 polls, with 1.1 million votes more than her closest rival, Fernando Poe Jr.  The Arroyo camp tried to cover all bases – it even instigated a brutal smear campaign with below-the-belt attacks against Poe. This was aimed not only at undermining public confidence in the latter, but more decisively to have Poe disqualified and his candidacy nullified.

The book's introduction, short but comprehensive, prepares the reader for the mind-blowing and staggering amount of information and testimonies from many sources pointing out the crimes of Macapagal-Arroyo long before and in preparation for the May 2004 polls.

Comprehensive Bulk of Evidence

According to electoral fraud analysts¸ political competition dictates the nature of electoral fraud. Efforts to steal elections become more obvious depending on the resources and ruthlessness of the political competitors. The desperation to win even through cheating –not only with the use of military might and the outlay of millions of funds – determines the strategies candidates adopt.

Judging from what was implemented by the fraud masterminds and as documented by the CCTA, the members of the Minority during the investigations of the House of Representatives and the independent investigation of the media, there was an attempt to elevate cheating to a higher level than just plain vote-buying, ballot switching or ballot snatching.

Fraud includes the verbatim transcription of the testimonies of four experts who testified how the fraud was committed in May 2004, namely Segundo Tabayoyong, Hermenegildo Estrella Jr., Francisco Alcuaz and Roberto Verzola. They explained the various means by which fraud was done like highly irregular thumbprints in countless election returns and clean taras in many other ERs.

Add these sworn testimonies  to the comprehensive bulk of evidence that the  elections were fixed and what you'll have is a highly compelling and urgent reason to demand the President’s ouster: (a) anecdotal evidence from voters – e.g., lack of indelible ink and other election paraphernalia, incomplete list of candidates and party-list groups, lack of security and authenticity of election materials; (b) massive disenfranchisement of voters ranging from 800,000 to three million; (c) partisan activities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP); (d) impossible and improbable voting results – e.g. GMA winning landslide victories in baranggays, provinces or regions arguably acknowledged as bailiwicks of other presidential candidates; more votes reported than registered voters, and negative total number of votes; (e) exit poll discrepancies – accurate polls in precincts with validated ballots, inaccurate polls in other precincts and all discrepancies favoring GMA or her party; and (e) statistical and qualitative analyses of these anomalies.

Verzola's article on the results of the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and the author's conclusions based on the NAMFREL tally all the more demolishes the credibility of Arroyo's claim to victory. He, however, also strongly hints at the shortcomings deliberate or not on Namfrel's part. He offers criticism against Namfrel's refusal to release their official breakdown despite the strong urging of the opposition, the media and election watchers. "If NAMFREL releases this breakdown, we might be able to narrow down the probable range (between GMA's and FPJ's votes) and get closer to the truth," Verzola writes.

The Minority Report

The section in Fraud devoted to the report made by the Minority members of the Joint Committee of Congress is titled “The True Report.”  In it, the members of the Minority Bloc led by Minority Leader Francis Escudero and Deputy Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano gave an accounting of process of canvassing of votes  cast for presidential and vice presidential candidates in the May 2004 polls.

Needless to say, it's a long tale of woe and denunciation. The very title of one of the sub-reports already explains the gist of the entire report: “The Illegal and Unconstitutional Canvass of Certificates of Canvass Which Were Not Authentic and Duly Executed and Refusal by the Majority Members to Open and Tabulate the Election Returns.”

The Minority concludes that the House canvass of votes, as led and facilitated by the Majority, was conducted in six ways, in an 1) unfair and impartial manner; 2) illegal manner; 3) robotic and mechanical manner; 4) unintelligent manner; 5) inaccurate manner; 6) arbitrary manner.

The Minority went through the election returns, statement of votes and certificates of canvasses not only from all over the country, but also from abroad where there was  absentee voting for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Myanmar, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Ireland. Their conclusion? Massive vote-rigging and countless similar anomalies.

The report of the Minority on the national canvass blisters accusations: the tone is an amalgam of frustration, righteous indignation and lawyerly outrage at how the law has been violated and twisted. It is evident that the writer of this report had to stay his or her hand to prevent himself or herself from using “unparliamentary language”; the occasional insult and threat  – "The Majority Members are extremely afraid and apprehensive the truth will come; or "Such unreasonable and illegal acts of the Majority Members will face imminent rejection in the parliament of the streets" – however, slips in, and one actually begins to sympathize with the members of the Minority who witnessed the canvassing and how the supposedly democratic exercise of elections was compromised.

Watchful Mainstream Media

Even before the May 2004 elections took place, the media had been active not only in reporting the usual, expected news that came with elections, but in exploring stories with controversial angles, giving consideration to the country's history in elections, and the track records of the candidates, particularly those who ran for the presidency.

It is most fortunate that for all the attacks against freedom of the press in the Philippines, the more progressive section of the media did not renege in the duty to expose the truth surrounding the 2004 polls and indirectly assist those who also shared the same mission. Fraud's credibility is further strengthened by the consistent attribution of reports that came out in the media throughout the elections, the final canvassing, the congressional investigations into the “Hello, Garci” scandal and the deliberations of the CCTA.  

The media followed the developments in the electoral fraud investigations and the inevitable surfacing of various witnesses who risked life and reputation to expose what they knew. Through the chaos of swiftly-changing reports and contradicting accusations, a pattern emerged: Macapagal-Arroyo and her camp initiated a plot to win the elections with massive cheating (dubbed Oplan Mercury, as stated in the book) and it was quickly unraveling at the seams.

Much thought went into analyzing the allegations of illegal voting even in the mainstream press, meaning it was not only the alternative media that stayed glued to the developments and weeded through the host of various lies and denials issued by Malacañang. The effectiveness of the mainstream press in exposing corruption was proven recently when First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, angry and piqued, filed libel suites against more than 40 journalists for their reports on his being the “chief cheating operator” in the 2004 polls, involvement in jueteng and smuggling, among many others.

Progressive Party-list Groups

Lawyer Cleto Villacorta has two articles in the book, "The Commission of Fraud: Patronage Politics in the Comelec" and "Has the Party List Law Broadened Popular Participation in Governance?" The former gives an analytical look at the Comelec and why precisely it can never have full credibility as an arbiter of clean and honest elections. The latter, on the other hand, is an assessment of the party-list system.

Villacorta tips his hat to the victory of the progressive party-lists Bayan Muna (People First), Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) and Gabriela Women's Party (GWP), and even to the three other party-list groups which were casualties of electoral fraud: Migrante Sectoral Party, Suara Bangsa Moro (Voice of the Moro People) and Anak ng Bayan (Nation’s Youth).

He lays down the legal framework which these progressive party-lists entered, and acknowledges that they followed the rules to the letter. If laws were followed, the government should even encourage the establishment and participation in the electoral process of grassroots groups, but as Villacorta admonishes: "The Comelec worked lackadaisically on the technical aspects of the party-list elections…The government has initiated and managed a strong-arm campaign against Bayan Muna et al – a State action that is seriously illegal in character."

Villacorta does not foresee a good future for progressive party-list groups, and understandably so, seeing how over 700 civilians, political activists, human rights advocates allied or directly affiliated with Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and other progressive partylist groups have been systematically killed since Macapagal-Arroyo came to power. Five of the six lawmakers of these partylist groups – Satur Ocampo, Rafael Mariano, Liza Maza, Joel Virador and Teddy Casiño were forced to take refuge in the House of Representatives for three months following foiled attempts to arrest them on rebellion charges. The sixth, Anakpawis Rep. Crsipin Beltran, remains incarcerated nine months since February 2006 on charges of inciting to sedition and rebellion.

“Yes, party-list groups won hands down in the party-list elections,” Villacorta writes. “But at what price, that is, whose lives have to be lost for such victory? There is neither rhyme nor reason for the State to invite varied ideologies and then allow its armed authorities and paramilitary units on a rampage against the progressive party-list groups.”

Villacorta says that a genuine party-list system in this country is doomed to fail and that all elections in the Philippines are doomed to be corrupt and fraudulent given the entrenched orientation of those who run the elections, those who run in the elections, and those who inevitably win the elections using not only guns, goons and gold, but by blatantly twisting and violating electoral and other laws. 

Importance of People’s Movement

Finally, Fraud pays tribute to the efforts of the progressive sectors of Philippine society. The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), by coming out with such a book, added to the most growing list of publications and materials that attest to the long-standing campaign of the progressive mass movement not only to expose and oppose corruption in government and all other attacks against the welfare and well-being of the Filipino people, but also to present alternatives to the status quo.

The book takes note of the leadership of militant people's organizations in highlighting the issues and concerns of the basic sectors they represent. People's organizations such as the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Philippine Peasant Movement), Migrante International, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay or Association of Urban Poor Organizations) and their leaders coordinated closely with the CCTA in gathering evidence to bolster the various charges of corruption, abuse of office, and human rights violations  against Macapagal-Arroyo. The human rights organization Karapatan, in the meantime, provided the conclusive documents and testimonies revealing the viciousness of the Arroyo administration's military offensives against progressives and sympathizers.

The congressional investigations on the “Hello, Garci” scandal, the deliberations of the CCTA and the continuing debates in the House of Representatives on the legitimacy of the Arroyo presidency all happen against the backdrop of relentless street protests and other forms of civil dissent. These demonstrations are either led by or largely supported by the mass membership of the groups under the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance). Even as the battle raged in the legal fronts, the parliament of the streets was always vigilant, actively commenting on the developments and denouncing the machinations of the administration to deny everything and criminalize the CCTA and those who participated in it.

What Fraud teaches readers is a valuable lesson: relying solely on legal battles, the legally prescribed venues for debate and struggle to resolve political conflicts between the State and the people is foolhardy. Anti-people and increasingly despotic regimes such as those led by Macapagal-Arroyo will not hesitate to break its own laws to achieve its ends. Neither does an administration like Macapagal-Arroyo's have qualms about initiating campaigns of political intimidation, harassment, and outright killing to protect itself and to silence its critics.

Given all these, the exploration of extra-legal means and reliance on strong mass movement are crucial if the campaign to expose an anti-people administration is to survive and prosper. To fight fraud, an active legal battle is highly necessary, but it must work closely with an equally vigilant and militant people's movement. Bulatlat

Ina Alleco R. Silverio is a freelance writer and contributes to various newsmagazines and newspapers, and only until recently was editor of Hong Kong News, the biggest bilingual newspaper for Filipinos in Hong Kong. She was a Fellow for short fiction in the 1996 Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete and a Fellow for Filipino short fiction in the 1998 UP National Creative Writing Workshop in Baguio.

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

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