June 20, 2005 · Posted in: 2004 Electoral Fraud, Gloriagate, In the News
The Lanao del Sur vote
OF the 14 recorded conversations supposedly between President Arroyo and Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano from May 28 to June 10, 2004, three of these were calls from the President who showed special interest in the canvassing in Lanao del Sur province in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
Post-election accounts show that it was in Lanao del Sur where one of the worst cases of “dagdag-bawas” (vote-padding and shaving) in the May 10, 2004 elections took place. The charge was made not only by the political opposition but no less than Namfrel provincial chair Abdullah Dalidig.
In their May 29 conversation, the President is heard asking Garcillano if she would still lead by more than one million votes nationwide. The commissioner, who noted that opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr. was leading in certain places, assured Arroyo, “Mataas ho siya pero mag-compensate po sa Lanao yan (His count is high, but we will compensate in Lanao).” The President, he said, could still get the one-million-plus lead “if we can get more in Lanao,” adding that he was still expecting the poll results from seven more municipalities of Lanao del Sur’s 39 provinces. The results from Lanao del Sur were among the last that were transmitted to Congress.
The race between Poe and Arroyo for the presidency was close. In the congressional canvass, Poe beat the President in Luzon and Metro Manila by 1,755,837 votes, but was defeated in the Visayas by 2,323,493 votes. In the Mindanao count, he lost to Arroyo by 496,116 ballots. In the end, the action star was defeated by more than one million votes.
In her June 2 phone call to the elections commissioner, the President sought clarification on the reported mismatch between the statement of votes (SOVs) and certificates of canvass (COCs) in Lanao del Sur and Basilan. Garcillano gave the President this assurance:”Dun naman sa Basilan at Lanao Sur, ito ho yung ginawa nilang magpataas sa inyo, maayos naman ang paggawa eh…Huwag ho kayong masyadong mabahala (In Basilan and Lanao Sur, they did a fine job of increasing your [presumably the President’s votes]. Don’t worry). Anyway, we will take care of this. Kakausapin ko rin si (I will talk to) Atty. Makalintal.”
COCs cover the canvassing at the municipal and provincial levels. They are accompanied by SOVs — by precincts for municipal COCs and by municipalities for provincial COCs. Election returns (ERs) are at the precinct level.
Then on June 8, the President supposedly made yet another call to Garcillano, shortly after Namfrel’s Dalidig appeared in a press conference at a Quezon City restaurant alleging “dagdag-bawas”in Lanao del Sur. Garcillano offered to attend to the matter by getting Ray Sumalipao, provincial election supervisor of Lanao del Sur, to help. “…Ray Sumalipao, the supervisor, is coming, and we will also try to make him say something after this. Pagsasalitahin ko sila ho (I will make him talk) without letting the people know that I am the one who will address it ho,” he told the President. (Sumalipao is now Comelec’s assistant regional director for ARMM.)
The final congressional tally shows Arroyo winning in Lanao del Sur. She garnered 128,301 votes and Poe 43,302 in the elections held on May 10, 2004. The President got another 30,447 and Poe 6,805 in the special elections that were subsequently held in Lanao del Sur towns where failure of elections was declared.
But according to Namfrel’s summary of provincial ERs, which forms part of its June 30, 2004 terminal report on the elections, Poe was leading Arroyo, 42,374 to 32,389, and the opposition’s Loren Legarda beating Noli de Castro, 56,568 to 23,242, in Lanao del Sur. Namfrel tabulated 82.98 percent of the ERs nationwide.
Documents from Namfrel’s chapter in Lanao del Sur illustrate the extent of the alleged vote-padding and shaving. The most interesting involved the town of Poona Bayabao. Located about 37 kilometers from Marawi City, this town merited special mention in Garcillano’s May 30 conversation with a certain Rey, whose voice Comelec and ARMM sources identified as that of election supervisor Ray Sumalipao. Sumalipao reported to Garcillano that an en banc order had been issued: He was “to continue with the canvassing but suspend the proclamation.”
A copy of the COC that Namfrel obtained of the voting in Poona Bayabao (it gets the fourth copy) shows President Arroyo and Legarda leading their opponents 4,700 to zero. But the ERs that the poll monitor was furnished (Namfrel gets the sixth copy) reveal a big discrepancy: Neither Poe nor De Castro obtained zero votes. In two tables prepared later by the Namfrel chapter summarizing the ERs in 13 precincts in Poona Bayabao, Poe got 767 and Arroyo 964, while Legarda obtained 1,252 and De Castro, 350.
Dalidig’s chapter also prepared tables comparing the ERs and COCs in seven other towns: Lambayanague, Taraka, Saguiaran, Marantao, Mulondo, Binidayan and Balindong. Dalidig counted 10,077 more votes in the COC. [Some tables contain computation errors.] According to the Namfrel chapter, the President’s votes were padded by 21,217 votes while Poe’s were shaved by 9,174.
The political report, in its minority report, also identified Poona Bayabao, Tara, Saguiaran, Lumbanayague, Marantao and Mulondo as towns where “dagdag-bawas” purportedly took place. The report also listed the towns of Tubaran, Taguluan II, Masiu and Bulig. By the opposition’s reckoning, a total of 6,986 were added to the President’s votes in the four towns, While Poe’s votes were reduced by 2,680 in Wao. But Congress simply “noted” the minority’s objections and request for a return to the ERs, and proceeded with the canvass.
Since the wiretapped conversations were made public, Dalidig told the Philippines Daily Inquirer he felt vindicated because neither the Namfrel national office nor Congress had paid him heed during the canvassing.
The six to seven Lanao del Sur towns that were still canvassing the votes weeks after the elections were held also formed the subject of Garcillano’s conversations with other people, presumably including Comelec field officers.
The elections commissioner told an unidentified man on May 25 that votes might still be obtained in seven towns in Lanao del Sur. “Kung makuha natin yung maximum sa Cotabato at madagdagan ng Lanao Sur, tama yung sinasabi mo (If we can get the maximum in Cotabato and add to Lanao del Sur, what he says is right),” he said.
On the same day, a certain Danny informed Garcillano that the candidate they were helping was reported to have won in six municipalities in Lanao del Sur. He replied: “Mananalo talaga siya. Nandun si Louie, Macarambon eh. Pababantayan ko (The candidate will really win. Louie, Macarambon are there. They will monitor)… ” The two then said they should celebrate if the candidate were to win by 20,000 to 25,000 votes.
On May 28, Garcillano got a call from a woman that the results from the six towns from Lanao del Sur were arriving in Manila on the last flight from Cagayan de Oro.
Five days later, on June 2, Garcillano is heard telling an unidentified man that “pinagdududahan nga akong nag-kwan sa (They suspect I did something in) Lanao Sur.” The man had informed Garcillano that former senator Robert Barbers was still expecting the votes from 27 towns in Lanao del Sur. The ex-senator, however, had gotten his numbers all wrong: The counting was over except in only a handful of precincts, not towns.
37 Responses to The Lanao del Sur vote
The J Spot
June 20th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
Vote padding and shaving?
INSIDE PCIJ has an interesting writeup on The Lanao del Sur vote. A blow-by-blow account, if you may, including snippets of the coversations allegedly between the President and the Comelec commissioner…
masha
June 20th, 2005 at 2:02 pm
thanks for giving a better picture of the disputed lanao del sur voting/canvassing.
the pieces are all coming together. it would be very difficult to fake something like this. there are too many details that pan out.
crd_web
June 20th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
I agree with you marsha, recently GMA was in Lanao.
Manuel L. Quezon III » Blog Archive » A wacky week?
June 20th, 2005 at 3:25 pm
[…] really care about: Batman Returns, Kris Aquino, and James Yap. And finally, PCIJ dissects the Lanao del Sur vote. This is just too funny. Take a peek at George W. Bush’s MSN mailbox. […]
Chihiro
June 20th, 2005 at 3:48 pm
To the PCIJ Bloggers;
Aside to sa Lanao issue: Meron na bang efforts na i-check or i=preserve or i-secure yung celphone records nitong sina Garci at GMA? I think kung makita yung records mas magiging matibay ang facts na GMA at si Garci nga yun. Although as it is e super tibay na nung tapes, pampatibay pa rin yung records.
Yun nga lang, buhay pa kaya yung mga records na yun? Di kaya na-“rescue” na rin nila Lomibao et al?
Chihiro
June 20th, 2005 at 3:49 pm
To the PCIJ Bloggers;
Aside to sa Lanao issue: Meron na bang efforts na i-check or i-preserve or i-secure yung celphone records nitong sina Garci at GMA? I think kung makita yung records mas magiging matibay ang facts na GMA at si Garci nga yun. Although as it is e super tibay na nung tapes, pampatibay pa rin yung records.
Yun nga lang, buhay pa kaya yung mga records na yun? Di kaya na-“rescue” na rin nila Lomibao et al?
fbvdloo
June 20th, 2005 at 5:36 pm
Dear Ms. Chua,
Your report was very interesting but unfortunately I couldn’t understand key parts of the text (yes, I agree my mistake should have learned Tagalog when I was working in Manila). Any chance u could add some translations
Thanks,
Greetings from a sunny Singapore
Bastiaan
http:/www.thephilippines.org
Yvonne Chua
June 20th, 2005 at 7:51 pm
fbvdloo: I’ve translated the quotes that are in Filipino to English. I hope it helps.
Naz
June 20th, 2005 at 8:54 pm
Thankyou very much too Ms. Yvonne Chua! (Hope i got it correct)
Thanks!
Very true Masha. Someone cant lie this far.. right? To much info to detailed. But no matter, there is fear of this being forgotten and this being passed by. You know how it works… we need to take action.. lets also pray guys! A big diffrence counts! Im really praying for a good government! Alot of buisnesess could go higher, more jobs, creative ideas and all that! Some people dont take it seriously at my age. But at my age, i do.. the future.. we need change. True change. Godbless and takecare all!
3c2p913
June 20th, 2005 at 9:44 pm
can somebody possibly check the Cebu final tally,isnt quite amusing that GMa won there via 8:1 ratio over FPJ,wheras in Pampanga she only won via 5:1 ratio,balwarte na nya nga ito di pa ganun ka landslide, sa Cebu pa?…i can only imagine how damaging is her conversation with who ever is the Comelec commisioner in chrge over there in Cebu,hope he is still alive,hehe..Di man siya ma People power ngayon,wala na rin siyang kwentang tao sa kasaysayan..hanggang sa pagtanda ng kahit na ka apu apuhan niya di pa rin malilimutan ang kanilang pinggagawa,babae pa man din siya,para siyang linta kung kumapit sa kapangyarihan..magisip isip ka madam President pls save your ass in the history books of the future…RESIGN NOW!!!!!
masha
June 20th, 2005 at 10:03 pm
cebu was delivered to gma. winston garcia still in gsis = gratitude. the guy who previously did not own a house in manila, was able to buy one in san lorenzo mkti (and if memory serves me right, a volvo too) because of his hefty paycheck. i wonder if any gsis member has benefitted like this from his membership. some members cant even get pensions they’ve worked their whole life for.
Yvonne Chua
June 21st, 2005 at 2:00 am
32cp913: The final tally in Cebu province: Arroyo, 965,630; Poe, 123,099. And in Cebu City: Arroyo, 220,060; Poe, 58,591. In Pampanga, Arroyo led Poe, 642,712 to 84,720. For the vote distribution between Arroyo and Poe nationwide, check our previous post: http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=115.
bagabag
June 21st, 2005 at 8:12 am
It clear that dagdag-bawas is the strategy in winning elections in the Philippines. We note this happened since the time of Marcos, the time of former President Ramos — take note of the electoral protest of Mirriam Defenser and check if Lanao is again in the picture.
Perhaps the only elections that they were snot able to tamper is that of Estrada because of his popularity.
As they were saying all alone, the only way for FPJ to have won the elections would be a landslide victory where such dagdag–bawas is extreemely difiicult to implement.
Maria
June 21st, 2005 at 11:08 am
masha said,
June 20, 2005 @ 10:03 pm
cebu was delivered to gma. winston garcia still in gsis = gratitude. the guy who previously did not own a house in manila, was able to buy one in san lorenzo mkti (and if memory serves me right, a volvo too) because of his hefty paycheck. i wonder if any gsis member has benefitted like this from his membership. some members cant even get pensions they’ve worked their whole life for.
Marsha, thanks for telling this to us. I only relying news like this here at PCIJ and my filipino news channel here in USA. I can tell your story makes sense because an american friend of mine now lives in Luzon married to filipina told me that Arroyo build a goverment service in Cebu as a gratitude gift to garcia. What bothers him was, Arroyo build a useless government in Cebu in order she can employ people who help her won the election. The goverment or services she formed in Cebu is a pay off by ALLOWING this people to continue to corrupt our country. They are helping each other to get money as much as they can and Arroyo turn a blind eye on this. Since the services had no purpose in the government, this is the only way that Arroyo could thank the Cebuanos who help her rigged the election in Cebu by giving them an employmnet to steal and corrupt the Filipino people. What a shame.
Atty C
June 21st, 2005 at 11:21 am
We all know why GMA wouldn’t fire Winston Garcia from the GSIS. It’s because the Garcias have delivered votes for GMA in Cebu. Well, I don’t believe all Cebuanos are GMA fans.
GMA has the gall to call on a corruption consultant from Hong Kong. She should just fire her corrupt officials. They are stealing everything they can lay their hands on, just like what happended during the time of Erap.
Mang_Romy
June 21st, 2005 at 4:33 pm
My post are getting rejected, coz I am a spammer daw. I am using a super proxy server. I am now in Saudi Arabia
swerty
June 21st, 2005 at 4:57 pm
Yes, you people are right! we need a leader who is not corrupt! a leader who will prosecutes and file a case or at a very lease, invetigate against those who (anyone, wether administration or opposition or even his/her relatives) are caught or alleged with corruption. and GMA obviously is not capable of doing these because she has what you call “utang na loob” but not on people of our country but those corrupt officials who help her win the throne of presidency, what a shame!
We need your opinion fellow citizens, who do you think you like to be the next leader of our country? why and what are his/her qualifications?
Alecks Pabico
June 21st, 2005 at 6:57 pm
Mang Romy, I wonder why the anti-spam plugin is doing that. Anyway, I already removed your IP address from the blacklist.
ric1
June 21st, 2005 at 8:54 pm
Thanks PCIJ. Your little reports of election fraud here and there sooner or later should add up to a giant expose of how irretrievably rotten is the system we have of choosing our leaders. I hope the whole thing leads not just to impeachment of GMA, which she so richly deserves, but also to a national rethinking of the Charter.
If our presidents and political leaders keep getting corrupted, if things are getting harder and harder to change in this country, and if our elections more and more are turning out to be shams, it is not because our ardor for democracy is wanting. It is because we are hamstrung by the many foolish and myopic provisions in our constitution.
arthur atienza
June 21st, 2005 at 10:32 pm
well, whats new in Lanao Del Sur. It has always been the place for additional votes for those with lots of moolah. I have witnessed and talked to many political operators who are mostly based in Cag. De Oro. For them, its natural occurrences na lang. Maybe, aside from educating the voters, a good honest to goodness revamp of comelec is the only hope for holdinh an honest to goodness election. Even Namfrel is not so sure of its volunteers. Napasok na kayo ng mga mandaraya under the guise of election watchdog kuno. But what can Namfrel officials do if its purely voluntary. They cannot choose their volunteers or else, they cannot cover the whole archipelago.And to losing candidates especially national candidates, don’t whine. Mas magaling lang siguro mandaya ang nagwagi. Kasi, lahat ng political party,ay represented by different political operators. Pity our electoral process.
arthur atienza
June 21st, 2005 at 10:48 pm
Its high time to call for a constitutional convention in order to reform or change the present electoral law. Suggest that delegates shall be voted by the people and not the present crop of legislators. I am sure bright ideas from delegates will come out. There are so many laws that may need changes and/or amendments that will be appropriate to the present times. Maybe, a change to federalism will be much better than our present set-up of governance. But before electing the delegates, lets first purge the comelec so that there will never be any doubts later.
Naz
June 21st, 2005 at 10:56 pm
I like what ric1 said! Yeah, a rethinking of a new charter!
Well, germany did it! The prussian army did. Elimated forms of corruption. We really need a new form of government. And I know.. that can make the big diffrence. Although.. I dont know what is happening now.. got back from school.. and caught the congress meeting on anc news. Apparantly there was a commotion before that. Uhm.. fpj supporters were outside (opposition) and apparently they reserved about 500 seats in the senate house. And all of a sudden they were not allowed in. And then trouble happend. I just felt so disgusted after i saw the meeting. Just like the report said.. “They were like little children and students cracking jokes, and the class president trying to keep them quiet.” I mean.. I was like.. what.. oh well.. hayy.. what do you think will happen? Hmm.. well.. lets just have faith! 
Godbless and takecare!
ric1
June 22nd, 2005 at 5:05 pm
Let’s face it folks. There won’t be clean, honest elections in places like Lanao del Sur anytime soon, perhaps not in our lifetimes. They’ve got worse problems there. Poverty for one. Violence for another. It’s all tied up in a self-perpetuating way.
For that matter, Lanao is but one manifestation of the inherent instability and infirmity in our democracy engendered by our unprecedented system of government. A system where political parties come by the dozen, legislative and executive exist to stymie each other, and leaders can be elected on mere plurality of votes.
Why oh why can we not embrace the tried-and-tested solution of the British? There they truly have one government where the chief executive and his cabinet are themselves members of the legislature and must come from the same political party or alliance that controls Congress. Better yet, they have candidates face off in run-off elections such that leaders always enter office with a majority of votes.
In contrast we in the Philippines have elected presidents and vice presidents with as little as a fourth of all votes. That is why when our vice president is suddenly thrust into the presidency nobody, including the person herself, is secure about her mandate to govern. To consolidate support, she has to compromise principle and make arrangements with all sorts of characters.
It is the mother of those compromises that is now unraveling in a very public way. Lucky we have PCIJ to lay bare this sordid affair.
masha
June 23rd, 2005 at 12:14 am
namfrel secgen luz maintains that there is no proof of cheating in lanao.(http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=8553) if the results of the congressional canvass and namfrel’s own count differ then doesnt that on its face indicate cheating? should we question the credibility of the leadership of namfrel as well?
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » The three tapes
June 23rd, 2005 at 9:08 am
[…] f canvass (COCs) in Basilan and Lanao del Sur. (Read our previous posts about the votes in Lanao del Sur and ARMM.) Garcillano tells the President, "itong ginawa nilang pagpataas sa i […]
Leo
June 25th, 2005 at 4:12 pm
Sa lahat ng mga pangyayaring nagaganap tungkol sa mga dayaan sa kasalukuyan, ito rin ay nangyari na noon pa man. Ito ay isang pagpapatunay lamang na ang pandaraya ay tila baga naging bahagi na ng kulturang Pilipino. Siguro ay mabibilang mo na lang sa daliri ang mga taong tunay na nagpapahalaga sa makataong pagtanggap ng tungkulin bilang lingkod bayan. Sa kabuuan ang ating kulturang Pilipino ay tuluyan ng nilamon ng mga banyagang kaisipan.
Leo
June 25th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
Noong una ang pandaraya sa eleksiyon ay ginagawa sa paraang pananakot, pag-agaw ng urna , pagpatay sa kalabang kandidato, pagbili ng boto, at iba pa. Sa ngayon ay napadagdag ang isang sistematikong pamamaraan na kung saan ay kasabwat ang mga matataas na empleyado ng ating pamahalaan. Sa pamamaraang ito isang tawag lang at ang lahat ay iikot na sa kanilang mga palad. Mas masahol pa sila sa mamamatay tao, ang pinapatay nila dito ay hindi lamang buhay ng isang tao, kundi buhay ng sambayanang Pilipino. Sana kapag napatunayan na may kasalanan sila, “firing squad” ang hatol gaya ng ginagawa sa mga kriminal.
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Election official confirms voice on tape
August 5th, 2005 at 2:30 pm
[…] Read the Sun Star article here. See also PCIJ’s post, "The Lanao del Sur vote." […]
algman29
August 6th, 2005 at 7:07 am
kung talagang nanalo si gloria eh bakit ang tagal na ayaw
pabuksan ang balota at mas maganda tutukan ng media ang muling pagbubukas at pagbibilang ng balota. Hindi ba ito ang pinakawise na gagawin niya para matapos na lahat ng pagdududa. Eh bakit hindi nila magawa!!! Para magkaalaman. Kung talagang siya ang lalabas na mananalo siguradong tatahimik na ang oposisyon. Tama ba ko?
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Tainted integrity of Comelec, electoral system casts doubts on ARMM elections
August 7th, 2005 at 4:46 pm
[…] Five ARMM provinces — Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao — figured prominently in the conversations between Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. The tapes also provide details of how the region was key to the president’s winning margin of 1.1 million over opposition candidate Ferando Poe Jr. […]
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Did Mike Arroyo fund postelection “special operations” in Lanao?
October 20th, 2005 at 11:22 pm
[…] The PCIJ is releasing for publication tomorrow a report on the cheating in Lanao del Sur in 2004. The report, done jointly with the TV program, "Probe," was based on the testimonies of two political operators who said they were funded by First Gentleman Jose Miguel ‘Mike’ Arroyo to rig the count in Lanao and other ARMM provinces. […]
bornokz
October 21st, 2005 at 5:36 am
Ang katotohanan kaylan man ay di matatakpan kahit pa ng pera ng mga Arroyo,Itong katotohanan ding ito na kanilang pilit na pinagtatakpan at ayaw ilantad ay ang dahilan para ang pamilyang iyo ay mapalayas sa pwesto.
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Witnesses in second hearing of Citizens’ Congress pin Arroyo to electoral fraud
November 10th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
[…] The provincial Namfrel chair said that Arroyo’s votes were padded in almost all the precincts, even reaching as high as 250 percent in some areas. "But if you look at the ERs (38 of 39 of which the Namfrel chapter was able to obtain and he has not surrendered to the national office for safekeeping), "mas malaki ang lamang ni FPJ," Dalidig said. (Some of what Dalidig cited in his testimony are in this PCIJ report and blog post). […]
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » 2 ARMM poll officials linked to electoral fraud given top Comelec regional posts
April 1st, 2006 at 10:51 pm
[…] Dalidig came out in public two months after the elections and even testified in the Senate last year about the manipulation of election results in Lanao del Sur, which he claimed was the worst case of dagdag-bawas he has ever seen. […]
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Mayuga report absolves ‘Hello, Garci’ generals
April 14th, 2006 at 12:47 am
[…] Gudani was relieved of his position as head of Task Force Ranao two days after the 2004 elections for no apparent reason just as the counting of ballots and canvassing of election returns was getting underway in Lanao del Sur. […]
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Verzola: Namfrel part of poll fraud coverup; Namfrel: Go after Comelec, not us
June 19th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
[…] But Verzola said the big question to him is why Namfrel kept “deathly quiet” about the election fraud. “When their coordinator in Lanao del Sur went public to expose the official cheating, Namfrel even disowned him. Namfrel volunteers in the field risked their lives and safety to make a truthful tally, only to be ignored by key Namfrel officials when their tally went against the official count.” […]
INSIDE PCIJ » ‘More telling’ evidence of 2004 electoral fraud in Lanao
November 29th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
[…] The first stage of the protest covers the presentation of evidence showing that massive cheating and fraud were committed in Lanao del Sur in favor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and de Castro. In fact, in the wiretapped conversations, three of the 14 phone calls that elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano made to Arroyo were about the Lanao count. Both the opposition and the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) counts in the province showed that Poe and Loren were winning by a wide margin, but by the time the canvassing was done, the ratios were reversed in favor of Arroyo and de Castro. (See related stories on Lanao del Sur here and here.) […]