Exposed:
Massive Cheating, Vote-Buying by Arroyos in Negros
Supporters
of incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are stopping at nothing to ensure
her victory and that of her brother-in-law, a candidate for Congress, in this
week’s elections. The election strategy, it was reported, involves millions of
government funds, massive cheating and vote-buying and the fielding of military,
police and paramilitary forces.
By
Karl G. Ombion
Bulatlat.com/Cobra-ans
BACOLOD
CITY - Government funds, cheating and vote-buying will be used by supporters of
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ensure her and her brother-in-law’s
victory in Negros in the May 10 elections.
This
accusation was made by former priest, Frank Fernandez, spokesperson of the
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Negros Island, in central
Philippines.
Similar
accusations were made by leaders of militant groups as well as opposition
leaders over the weekend. The election strategy, they said, also involves the
use of military and police forces as well as the renegade Revolutionary
Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB).
In
a statement sent to the Negros press Friday, Fernandez said the Arroyos are
pouring in millions of funds to ensure victory of the standard-bearer of the K-4
Coalition and Iggy Arroyo who is running for representative of Negros
Occidental’s fifth district.
These
funds are being poured into key political operations in the province by the
president’s brother-in-law himself who is assisted by political liaison
officer, Antonio Gatuslao, Fernandez said.
The
plan to cheat in the elections in Negros was allegedly hatched after the
defection of Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon to the opposition and after
his patron businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. had been neutralized through his
continued stay as chairman of the board of San Miguel Corporation.
Targets
The
major targets of the effort to further marginalize those opposed to the Arroyos
are Marañon himself and fifth district Rep. Jose Apolinario Lozada Jr.
“The
Arroyos led by Iggy Arroyo are doing everything to isolate Marañon, Lozada and
those opposing their rule including the party-list group,” Fernandez said.
Malacañang,
according to the NDFP spokesperson, had earlier released P1.2 billion for
government projects in the province through favored public works contractors
who, in turn, allocated 40 percent of the money for the election campaign.
To
pave the way for massive cheating operations, three army companies from the 12th
Infantry Battalion are to be deployed in the fifth district to assist in
operations to cheat Lozada during the elections, Fernandez further said.
Another
company is to augment the 11th and 61st Infantry Battalion and the RPA-ABB to
ensure Arroyo’s victory in the district.
To
make everything proceed smoothly, Negros Occidental provincial director Sr.
Supt. Vicente Ponteras was relieved as he is close to Marañon while 303rd Brig.
Col. Jeffrey Sodusta was promoted to brigadier general, Fernandez said.
Lt.
Col. Abraham Bagasin, a loyalist of the Arroyos replaced Col. Gregorio Fajardo
of the 11th IB, the revolutionary leader explained.
“Election
hotspots”
Part
of the grand design to buy voters and to intimidate and coerce them during the
elections, the NDFP spokesperson also said, is for the military and the police
to create a scenario that would justify military operations in Negros Island on
the pretext of securing election hotspots or so-called “areas of concerns.”
With
the voting disrupted in these areas, it is the military that will fill in the
ballots for those who will not be able to cast their votes because of fear,
Fernandez said.
A
total of 200 ballot boxes will be used for the votes cast by Arroyo loyalists in
the fifth district including the second district in the province which is
tightly controlled by the Marañons. Along with this is the effort to deny votes
for party-list groups.
The
arrest of Anak ng Bayan’s fourth nominee Ronald Ian Evidente in Dumaguete is
part of this grand plan, he said.
Opposition
agrees
Wilson
Gamboa, a former defense undersecretary under the Ramos administration and
spokesperson of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) in
Negros, told Bulatlat.com that he fully agrees with the observations of
the NDFP leader.
“Arroyos
are so desperate for victory,” Gamboa said, “that they resort to ransacking
government coffers, and exploiting every opportunity possible for diverting
people’s funds, irregardless how vulgar or shrewd their actions are before the
public view.”
In
fact, Gamboa added, the NDFP leader is not the first to expose this. The
opposition and the Catholic bishops have repeatedly warned the people that the
Arroyo administration will resort to massive fraud and violence on May polls.
Meantime,
lawyer Marsha Cordero, Commission on Elections (Comelec) officer for Negros has
been accused of doing nothing to prevent cases of election violations and in her
failure to thwart the attempt of the RPA-ABB from intimidating and coercing
voters in several towns in the province. She
admitted she had no knowledge of ballot boxes brought to the province.
In
a forum in Bacolod attended by mostly opposition candidates, Epi Gelle,
Secretary-General of Bayan Negros, noted that the Arroyos all the way from
Malacañang down the region are reportedly spending millions for media ads,
bribing media broadcasters and reporters as well as local officials and leaders
of the opposition.
Gelle
also said that special forces of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and the
AFP have been deployed to support the Arroyos’ campaign in the region and
ensure the victory of the incumbent president and her brother-in-law.
The
election strategy, the Bayan leader said, is aimed at establishing a political
kingdom of the Arroyos in Negros, with the center of gravity in the 5th district
(central Negros).
Sugarland
Bulatlat.com
and Cobra-ans research reveals that the Arroyos own over a thousand hectares of
sugarland in central Negros, particularly in the towns of Isabela, Binalbagan,
Hinigaran, and La Castellana.
Unimpeachable
sources however said that the Arroyos are now mired in debt so much so that a
big portion of their lands is now under “lease” by some big planters
associations, and being earmarked for contract-growing arrangements with farm
workers associations and private entrepreneurs.
Gelle
said that “this must be one of the reasons why the Arroyos have fielded Iggy
Arroyo, because his entry into the Congress would give them a great political
and economic advantage to consolidate the Arroyos’ properties, and eventually
work in tandem with the Cojuangcos in dominating Negros.”
Opposition
Rep. Apolinario Jun Lozada, however, belittled the Arroyos’ threat saying
“they will have a hard time controlling the district, and asserting their
trapo (traditional politics) dominance in Negros, because the people are far
stronger and militant than they were during Marcos times.”
“The
Arroyos’ kingdom is indeed a threat, but I and the people will give them a
hard time consolidating themselves,” Lozada said.
Lozada
is one of Negros congressmen whose candidacies were endorsed by Bayan Muna and
its allied party-list organizations in this week’s election.
RPA-ABB’s
electoral rampage hit
In
a related development, Fernandez also lambasted the government for coddling the
RPA-ABBs.
Fernandez
charged the military and the police of continually coddling the breakaway rebel
group which continues to commit what he said were crimes against the peoples.
In
a tape-recorded and written statement made available to the local media,
Fernandez said 303rd Infantry Brigade’s commanding officer Brig. Gen. Jeffrey
Sodusta and provincial police director Supt. Mark Edison Belarma have feigned
ignorance and outrightly tolerated the rebel group’s election violations.
Because
the breakaway rebels have not been granted the P500 million they demanded as
part of the sham peace agreement, they have been let loose by the government
upon the people and allowed to engage in extortion and criminal activities.
Fernandez
cited the hold-up and robbery operations that resulted in the killing of Sta.
Catalina town employees years back. They
have also been hired as goons, engaging in land-grabbing activities and illegal
logging operations.
On
the pretext of enticing the RPA-ABB to agree to sign what Fernandez said was a
sham peace agreement, they were integrated into the military as a virtual
paramilitary unit involved in supposed police duties but functioning as a
counterinsurgency force.
The
truth is that the breakaway group is under the operational control of the 303rd
IB, said Fernandez. Bulatlat.com
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