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  1. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    1,271
    #1
    making sure no solid evidence on 'hello garci' scandal before the term ends.

    from: www.inquirer.net

    [SIZE="3"]Comelec office ransacked[/SIZE]
    200 troops guarded Maguindanao facility

    By Charlie Señase
    Inquirer Mindanao
    First Posted 00:28:00 01/07/2010


    SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO, Philippines—Suspected thieves broke into and ransacked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office in this capital town, but police officials were surprised over the report, saying the place was heavily secured.

    “They (thieves) could have [entered] … the premises during the holidays because we learned of [it] … only on Monday when we reported for work,” Estelita Orbase, provincial election supervisor, said late Tuesday.

    In Manila, two senators on Wednesday raised suspicions about the theft and urged the Comelec head office to investigate. They said it might be part of cleaning up the cheating mess committed there during the 2004 and 2007 elections.

    “The suspicion is very strong that they’re clearing the office of incriminatory documents,” said Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

    Orbase said the intruders gained entry to the Comelec office through the windows by detaching the jalousies. They took the water dispenser and some kitchen utensils, but Orbase said some documents might be missing .

    “We are still trying to find out what are the other missing articles, which might be of significant value to the coming polls,” she said.

    Senior Supt. Alex Lineses, provincial police chief, said the Comelec had not reported the robbery to police authorities and was baffled that the robbers could easily enter the Comelec office because it was being heavily secured.

    “We have our men and the military securing the perimeter, both inside and outside, and it is impossible that robbers were able to penetrate [the office],” Lineses said.

    At least 200 soldiers and policemen are deployed at the provincial capitol compound, which is also surrounded by a concrete fence. Employees must write their names at the gates before they can enter the compound and their offices.

    Heavy troop deployment

    The heavy troop deployment was prompted by the election-related massacre of 57 people, including 30 journalists, at Ampatuan town in Maguindanao last Nov. 23. Several top civilian officials, mostly members of the Ampatuan clan, were arrested.

    A few days after the military takeover of the province on Dec. 5, lawmen seized election-related documents from a warehouse allegedly owned by the Ampatuan clan in Shariff Aguak. The documents, including voter’s registration forms and voter’s IDs, were dug up along with firearms and ammunition.

    Orbase had confirmed that the recovered documents were authentic and were issued by the Comelec. She could not say why it ended up being buried at the warehouse.

    Last Dec. 11, more voter’s IDs were found near the house of acting Maguindanao Gov. Sajid Ampatuan.

    ‘Revelations’

    The poll officer of Shariff Aguak at that time, Allan Obpon, was to be invited to explain why the election-related documents were taken out of the Comelec office. But he died on Dec. 11 of heatstroke while on an Islamic pilgrimage in Mecca.

    The documents were moved to the Comelec provincial office pending investigation.

    In a phone interview, Pimentel said it was possible that some people were “worried about the revelations of what really happened in the 2004 presidential election, as well as in the 2007 elections.”

    For his part, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said authorities should identify the people behind the latest break-in as it would appear that it was related to the massive cheating committed there in 2004 and 2007.

    The robbery could have been committed by people “who may be compromised to whatever pieces of evidence that had been carted away,” said Biazon.

  2. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    1,271
    #2
    from: www.inquirer.net

    [SIZE="3"]Remembering ‘Hello Garci’[/SIZE]

    Philippine Daily Inquirer
    First Posted 03:01:00 01/07/2010


    MANILA, Philippines—Even before the Nov. 23 massacre, allegations of cheating, poll sabotage and election-related violence had besmirched the image of Maguindanao.

    Maguindanao was one of the provinces mentioned in the “Hello Garci” tape scandal involving wiretapped conversations supposedly between President Macapagal-Arroyo and former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on rigging votes in Mindanao in 2004. Both Ms Arroyo and Garcillano denied allegations of wrongdoing.

    During the 2004 presidential election, Ms Arroyo won most of the votes in Maguindanao. In one town, her rivals did not even get a single vote.

    In May 2007, provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol appeared before the National Board of Canvassers and announced that the administration senatorial candidates (Team Unity) had scored a 12-0 sweep in Maguindanao.

    Bedol also claimed that 19 other senatorial candidates—seven of them from the opposition—got zero votes as reflected in the provincial tally. Then Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. himself described the results as “statistically improbable.”

    The Maguindanao results were crucial since the tally would define the 12th spot in the Senate lineup. (Team Unity’s Miguel Zubiri later claimed the spot, kicking out Genuine Opposition’s Aquilino Pimentel III.)

    Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesperson Eid Kabalu, citing field reports, said “there was no actual conduct of elections in many parts of Maguindanao.”

    Kabalu quoted MILF members and supporters as saying that election materials did not even reach some polling precincts.

    Other witnesses surfaced. A teacher, who acted as a member of the board of election inspectors (BEI), accused local Comelec officials, police and the military of committing fraud.

    The teacher said no elections actually took place in Maguindanao, claiming that colleagues were ordered to fill out the ballots on the eve of the voting.

    In an affidavit, a 51-year-old man said he and his fellow BEI members were taken from the treasurer’s office on May 14 and brought to a banana patch where they filled out ballots while armed men stood by.

    Provincial administrator Norie Unas said the Team Unity’s sweep was a result of extensive consultations held by Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., an ally of President Macapagal-Arroyo, with local officials. Unas said this was meant to get people to vote as a bloc under threat of sanctions.

    Four days after appearing before the board of canvassers, Bedol told reporters that the municipal certificates of canvass (CoCs) were stolen from the Comelec office at the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak, while he was in Shariff Kabunsuan.

    In June 2007, two days before the Comelec office in Manila was to hear allegations of poll fraud, Maguindanao schools district supervisor Musa Dimasidsing was shot dead. He was among those who helped expose alleged election irregularities in the province.

    On Aug. 7, 2007, a Comelec resolution found Bedol guilty of indirect contempt. He was penalized with a six-month prison term at the Manila City Jail and a fine of P1,000. Bedol spent only one night at the Comelec’s law department before he was released on a P15,000 bail.

    A warrant for Bedol’s arrest was issued on Oct. 23, 2007. on the strength of the Comelec ruling. On Oct. 30, 2007, police tried to serve the warrant at his residence in Cotabato City, but he was not there.

    The warrant was subsequently returned to the Comelec. In December 2009, the Supreme Court upheld the jail term meted out on Bedol.

    Bedol has yet to surface.

Comelec office ransacked