More ‘telling’ evidence of 2004 electoral fraud in Lanao

THE Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) wrapped up last week the first stage of its hearings on the election protest of 2004 vice-presidential candidate and former senator Loren Legarda against Vice President Noli de Castro. The hearings were capped by the testimony of an official of a printing company commissioned for election documents — perhaps the most important evidence of post-poll cheating so far presented.

In his testimony in one of the tribunal hearings which began in July 2004, Robert Payongayong of Ernest Printing said copies of the Lanao del Sur elections returns (ERs) from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and election watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) are “authentic,” while the ERs from the ballot boxes stored in the House of Representatives are “fakes.”

The first stage of the election 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 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.)

In a press conference yesterday, Legarda said the testimony of Payongayong validates the “long-standing suspicion that the genuine ERs had to be switched with forgeries” that would match the “equally spurious tallies” in the Statement of Votes (SOVs) and Certificates of Canvass (COCs) used by Congress during the national canvassing.

“Cheating is cheating is cheating. Cheating by one vote is not all different from cheating by a million votes. Nonetheless, my election protest, in which hundreds of thousands of votes are expected to be credited to me and debited from my rival, has come to the point when the thing that matters — the outing of the truth — has been realized,” Legarda said.

Below is an excerpt from Payongayong’s testimony, showing that ERs from Lanao del Sur used by Congress in the canvassing are fakes because of the absence of the year “1940” in the Comelec seal:

Atty. Sixto Brillantes:

May we ask the witness to go over the same Exhibit “G” and all the submarking.

Q: Mr. Witness, can you go over the same and tell us whether Exhibit “G” Congress copy, Comelec returns in Municipality of Taraka are genuine or not?

Witness Payongayong:

A: Exhibit “G-7,” Exhibit “G-6,” Exhibit “G-5,” Exhibit “G-4,’ Exhibit “G-3,” Exhibit “G-2,” Exhibit “G-1,” and Exhibit “G” are not genuine.

Retired Justice Bernardo Pardo:

Q: Are…ano? Not…

Witness Payongayong:

A: Are not genuine, Sir.

Atty. Brillantes:

Finally, Mr. Witness, just a few more questions.

Q: You’ve gone over the several various copies of the election returns using an instrument, can you tell us what kind of instrument; you’re using the one that glows?

Witness Payongayong:

A: This is used for micro printing, the lens and also the ultra violet light.

Atty. Brillantes:

Q: In using the magnifying lens, what were you looking for to determine whether it’s authentic or not?

Witness Payongayong:

A: I’m looking for the Comelec logo seal of the Comelec which appears the year of the Comelec 1940 in the logo.

Atty. Brillantes:

Q: What can you see if the election return is not authentic in the 1940?

Witness Payongayong:

A: Because it is the official seal of the Comelec.

Atty. Brillantes:

Q: When you say it (Congress ER being examined) is not authentic as in exhibits “F” and “G,” what do you not see in this document which you said are not authentic?

Witness Payongayong:

A: The center logo of the Comelec seal, the biggest one, the printing of the Comelec logo is not sharp enough, and also the 1940 was not seen in the central logo, and also the small logo of the Comelec seal in the instruction which don’t have the 1940 of the Comelec.

Atty. Brillantes:

Q: So, if the 1940 year is not in the small logo, it is not authentic?

Witness Payongayong:

A: Not authentic.

Payongayong’s testimony was also supported by the statement of Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos, who told the PET that the Congress ERs are “irregular” after comparing these with the Lanao del Sur ERs of Comelec. This was also backed up by the testimony of Abdullah Dalidig, former provincial chair of Namfrel in Lanao del Sur, who said that Namfrel copies are all original and genuine.

Legarda said the fake ERs also confirm reports of a break-in at the House of Representatives from December 2004 to February 2005 when the switching was allegedly done. Last August, one Arsenio Rasalan gave out copies of his affidavit to the media claiming that former Philippine National Police chief and now Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane led the plan to execute a “grand clandestine operation” to manipulate election results in Mindanao.

Rasalan said fake ERs were produced to adjust the votes for the president and vice president in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and seven other in Mindanao. In his affidavit, he also said the fraud team was even assisted by civilian and police personnel when they brought the fabricated ERs to the Batasan. (View Rasalan’s video testimony here.)

The final congressional tally showed that Arroyo and de Castro won in Lanao del Sur. But the June 30, 2004 terminal report of Namfrel showed that Poe and Legarda won in the province. During yesterday’s press conference, Legarda showed a sample of an ER from a precinct in the town of Balindong in Lanao del Sur. The Comelec copy showed that Poe got 105 votes and Arroyo, 39. Loren got 159 votes, while Noli garnered 31 votes. The Namfrel copy reflected the same number of votes.

The congressional copy, however, showed that Arroyo had 170 votes; Poe, 20; de Castro, 165; and Legarda, 39.

“(The ER) was substituted. How (else) can you explain it?” Legarda said.

Legarda’s laywer, Rufus Rodriguez, also said all 48 ERs from Balindong and 42 ERs from nearby town Taraka are fakes, as stated by Payongayong in his testimony. In the “genuine” ERs, Rodriguez claims, Legarda won “overwhelmingly.”

Rodriguez said they will be seeking a retabulation of votes in the contested ERs. In all, he added, about 42,000 votes will be deducted from de Castro after the retabulation.

The second stage of the case will cover Cebu, where about 30 to 40 percent of ballots were also tampered with, according to Rodriguez. He explained that several ballots had no watermarks and most were filled up by one person, while some bore the name of dead persons. Rodriguez estimates that after the “revision of ballots,” meaning after they’ve disregarded votes in ballots considered as fakes, about 300,000 votes will be taken out from the 900,000-lead of de Castro over Legarda.

And after they present evidence that ballots and ERs in Maguindanao, Bohol, Iloilo, and Pampanga were also tampered with, Rodriguez said, the 900,000-lead of de Castro will be “completely reversed.”

Rodriguez expects the case to be over by December 2007. And in case Legarda will win in the upcoming senatorial race, Rodriguez said, Legarda will still be able to sit as vice president once it is proved that she won in 2004.

“This is a fight for the truth and for the people,” Legarda said. “We must exert all efforts that this will not be replicated in the next 2007 elections.”