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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

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CITY OF MANILA

AFFIDAVIT
I, MELCHOR G. MAGDAMO, of legal age, with address at 54 Sarimanok Street, Mira Nila Homes 7Io7 Quezon City, after having been sworn in accordance with law, hereby depose and state that:
1.

With training from the University of the Philippines College of Law, I have been an Attorney since 02 May 1995 and had rru-.rors in-depth exposures as Legal Consultant in anti corruption investigations, first involving high ranking officials at the Government Service Insurance System (from April 1gg7 to December r99z) and later involving high ranking officials at the Department of Agrarian Reform (from O1 Olctober 2oor with a series of contract renewals lasting until mid 2004). From o8 November 2oo4 and for three years until 30 November 2oor, r served as court Attorney of the supreme court, where, in addition to my regular duties, I served as "Member" and later as *Vice Chairman,, of the TpcHucer- woRrrxc GBoup (TwG) of the Bros eNn Awnnos covvr*en (BAC). I did not expect and it carne as a surprise that my moderate exposure to government procurement laws was to become the reason for my whirlwind hiring into another government agency with a colorful procurement history - the conrr,rissroN oN Er-pcnoNs (coMELEC). Attorney was shot dead while walking peacefully near the front of the COMELEC main office. The following day, I was told to go to the COMELEC main office and be a coMELEC Attorney. I did go told, brrt "" for the purpose of politely declining the suggestion, for, no man in his right mind is willing to be another target. However, being a survivor of a far worse situation before, having been face-to-face with a hostile tank last 23 February 1986 during the historic First People Power Revolution, it was awkward for me now to walk away cowardly fiom the call of duty.

2.

3.

on 24 March 2oo8, I heard news that a high ranking COMELEC

4.

Performing my duty, the first bidding I was able to observe in coMELEC was on the first day of April 200s (April Fools Day). It was the bidding for the oprcar- Mam Rnenrn (oMR) system for certain areas in the Aurouorraous Rpclori tN Musllr,r Mrxnenao (ARMM). Presiding over the bidding was the COMELEC Executive Director and concurrent BAC Chairman Jose Mdntndan Tolentino. Except for the BAC Chairma.n, all the other BAC Members were mysteriously missing. The BAC TwG Head was also mysteriously missing. The BAC Secretariat Head was also mysteriously missing. I tried asking my co-observer seatmates (representatives of election watchdogs) why in a bidding involving, with due-respect, no less than the cheating capital of the philippines, the BAC chairman was functioning like a one man band. No one was abre to give a satisfactory answer. Be that as it may, there were only two bidders: Actiue Buslness solution and Auante. However again, the demo oMR machine of Actiue was also missing, so Auante became the last surviving bidder. Sometime later in the month, chairman Jose A. R. Melo was out of the country and the Acting chairman was then Former Justice Romeo A.

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Among others, the documents describe a continuation of a project for VorBn Rpctsrnarlox Reconos (VRR) costing more than 2OO Million pesos plus another 1oo Million pesos, therefore a total project price of approximately 3OO Million pesos.

6.I.

More specifically, the project involves 335,549 holders/binders and 53,359,800 plastic fillers (Memorandum Ns Jor-s4g dated 30 october 2oo7 of Judg L. Lorenzo thru Diuina s. Blas perez to Executive Director Ho Jose s. Joson). Initially, the proponent was silent about its cost, and so the Commission En Banc resolved to refer the cost aspect to the ElpcnoN BeRaNcay Ar',r,erRs DppaRrveur (EBAD) for estimation (En Banc Minute Resolution Ns 06_0rg2 dated 27 JuIy 2006).

6.2.

(Certification issued on 14 February 2008 by Budget Officer Minda Zita M. Jongko and noted by Director Eduard.o D. Mejos.

Regrettably, the cost per item remained unclear for more than a year until after 14 February 2008 when the FrNaNcB Sonvrcns DepanmtnNt (FSD) issued a Certification that 99.582 Mi[ion pesos is available for the purchase of VRR binders and plastic fillers, chargeable against the 2oor Barangay Election Funds

6.3. on

19 February 2008, then Acting chairman Romeo A. Brawner wrote a memorandum to BAC chairman Jose M. Tolentino, Jr., the pertinent part of which reads:
connection with the procurement of binders and plastic fillers for voters Registration Records, please hold in abeyance the conduct of the public bidding for said items until such time as the commission en banc has been fully apprised by the Finance Services Department of the cu financial status of the Commission.

In

6.4. In Memorandum

Jo8-009 dated 11 March 2oog, Attorney Judg L' Lorenzo urgently requested Acting Chairman Romeo A. Brataner to approve the purchase of 42,ooo vRR binders and g,400,000 plastic fillers, claiming that the said items are necessary for the ARMM elections which was then still five months away.
Ns

6.5.

The Commission En Banc resolved to confirm the action taken by Acting Chairman Romeo A. Brananer on the suspension of bidding until after the FSD submits a report on the Commission's current financial status (En Banc Minute Resolution Ns 0g-0364 dated 11 March 2008).

6.6.

Later, in that very srme En Banc meeting, some ciever character was able to recycle the proposal back to the En Banc again, an event that is highly unusual and irregular. The documEnt is a Memorandum dated 07 March 2oog signed by no less than the Executive Director himself, Jose M. Tolentino, Jr.

6.7 The commission En Banc reiterated holding in abeyance any bidding of said items until after the FSD srrhmifs fhc rerrnrr

6.8'

On 29 April 2OO8, the Commission En Banc resolved to schedule the presentation of the FSD report on 14 May 20og (En Banc Minute Resolution Ns O8-0497 dated 29 April 2OOg).

6.9. surprisingly, on 12 May 2oo8 or two days prior to the 14 May

2008 reporting date, the Executive Director and concurrent BAC chairman Jose M. Tolentino, Jr. went on ahead with the bidding of VRR holders/binders, plastic fillers, and thumb and fingerprint takers, in open defiance of the clear directives in En Banc Minute
Resolutions Ns 08-0364 and 08-0375.

6.10. Emerging as one of the winners from the openly defiant bidding was a single proprietorship using the name "OTC paper Supply,,.
7.

Ramon Paterno Aquino thru Retired Brigadier General (now Head Executive Assistant| Edgardo M. Gurrea, were:

Realizing the power of the Executive Director who can openly defy or at least sidestep the En Banc, my anti corruption efforts became thl topic of ridicule. Just the same, I persisted even if my output fell on deaf ears. Some of the memoranda which I co-authored with Executive Assistant

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07 october 2oo8 memorandum against the excuse of using intellectual property..rules for escaping from the Government
Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) (Republic Act Ns 91g4).

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04 February 2oo9 memorandum pointing out the tailor-fitting of printers in favor of an ink monopoly.
proceeding (RAS-C-08-2646) that attempts to halt instead of prosecute the 16.69777669 million pesos plus 12.1935415 million

26 February 2oo9 request for clarification in an ombudsman

pesos scam by a forwarding company.

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17 March 2oo9 memora-ndum against what is perhaps the most expensive warehouse lease in the Philippines. 29 May 2oo9 "very important motion for clarification" (with former Information Technologr Department Director Ernesto R. Del Rosario as co-author) against the attempt of Smartmatic to escape from the transmission test. Even until today, either Smartmatic or some powerful coercive group behind Smartmatic are hellbent on botching the transmission aspect of election automation.

8.

Among the other contributory efforts, in cooperation with planning Director Esmeralda Amora Ladra, concern the enormous overprice of ba-llot printing in the National Printing office, from as high as p34.oo per ballot, down now to the present level of P2.2O per ballot.
Among the major frustrations are the sincere efforts to equip each ballot with a very effective but inexpensive anti fake ballot safeguard system from Nautilus Secuity Technologles, similar to that of the Euro Currenctt,

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10.

It is interesting to note that ftom 2O to 25 January 2OIO, during the schedule of comparative testings between Nautilus Seatrttg Technologi".-u.r*r" another company that refuses to undergo a test, BTI eAd.uantage, Executive Director Tolentino had been sending numerous text messages to Director Ladra, and Director Ladra showed me some of those text messages, ordering the stop of all testings. Incidentally, the asking price of Nautilus Securitg Tecinotogie-sis only Pl.9O per ballot while that of B?/E was p6.2S per document.
One irregularity after another came pounding hard against the image of the COMELEC, some of which appear to be deliberate. I did my best to-exercise restraint and keep cool until sometime in March when a saw in the Office of the chairman a lady by the name of Emilg G. cam Bacoto, complaining against what she claims to be an infringement of her intellectual property .i"gtrt to . secrecy folder design, accusing orc paper Supply of being .opy".i. I-told her ". to raise her grievance before the Intellectual Property Office. - When she said that the price of OTC is 38O Pesos Per Folder, I iold her that it may be only a typographical error because the price of the originai folder is only pB.gO so maybe the decimal point fell into the wrong location. Just the **., I told her to submit her own bid come bidding day.

11.

12.

Bidding day for the secrecy folder never came. Later, talks about the secrecy folder grew more intense because the price proposal is really 38O pesos per Folder which adds up to an astronomical budget of almost 689 Miflions pesos! I tried to visit BAC Chairperson Maia Lea R. Alarkon. Unfortunately, whenever I go to her office, I see Executive Director Tolentino inside. As a word of caution, my officemate, Matias Gimeno Din, lo1d, me to be careful because a "sindikato" wants to silence him, and I may be the next target. on Saturday 13 March 2oro, I heard news that Matias Gimeno Din16ad t-o go on leave "for health reasons" and to visit his son.

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14.

I am aware that his son Rafael Dln was a scholar of the Philippine Science High School and later a scholar of the University of the Philippinei but who went up to the hills as an ideological leader of one of the Bicol region command of the New Peoples Army. His fellow Bikolano, Doctor Artain A. Serrano, the pazuss PasroRal, Couxctl roR Respoxsrele VonNc (PPCRV) representative to the BAC, had since then been asking me if the "sindikato" is really holding as ,,hostage,, the automation project, the success of which the En Banc holds so dearly.
On 15 March 2O1O, sensing the seriousness of the turn of events, I sent a letter via e-mail to the PPCRV. On 22 March 2OIO,I signed the letter in front of the PPCRV representative and Law Director Ferdinand r. Rafanan.

15.

il lt t JUW( 4rt /U c,-t /.-tno MELCHOR G. M]q,GDAMO

AFFIANT SUBSCzuBED and SWORN to before me on lS APRIL 2O1O in Pursuant to the 2OO4 Rur.ps oN NorARrar, Pnacrrcn (Supreme Court AM-02-8-13-SC;"""Irti.; promulgated on 6 July 2004 effective 1 August 2OO4), the affiant, appearing in person before me on a single occasion, presenting competent evidence of identity lvafia identification document with picture) (COMELEC Identification Card No lo-!!frel) a der alty of law to the truth of t]lis affidavit.

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