Electoral sabotage case filed vs Arroyo, Ampatuan, Bedol

By Jeannette I. Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
11:58 am | Friday, November 18th, 2011

MANILA, Philippines A joint Commission on Elections and Department of Justice committee formally filed a charge of electoral sabotage against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and ex-Comelec official Lintang Bedol at the Pasay City Regional Trial court on Friday. Apart from the charge, for which no bail was recommended, the committee, which conducted a preliminary investigation into allegations of electoral fraud, also sought the urgent issuance of a hold departure order to prevent the former President and her two co-accused from leaving the country. In the information filed at the Pasay City regional trial court Brach 112 presided over by Judge Jesus Mupas, the committee named Arroyo, Ampatuan, and Bedol as accused in electoral sabotage committed on or before May 14, 2007 where the three allegedly conspired and helped each other to ensure a 12-0 victory for the senatorial candidates of Arroyos team unity where they willfully, feloniously and unlawfully tampered the provincial certificate of canvass (PCOC) of votes, the statements of votes by city or municipality (SOVM) and summary statement of votes (SSOV) for the province of Maguindanao. The information stated that electoral sabotage was further committed When a few days before the election day during a dinner meeting in Malacaang Palace, accused Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, personally instructed accused Andal Ampatuan Sr, who was then governor of Maguindanao to ensure a 12-0 victory for the senatorial candidates of the Team Unity, thereafter accused Andal Ampatuan Sr. in turn instructed accused Atty. Lintang Bedol who was then the chairman of the provincial board of canvasser of Maguindanao. The Comelec claimed that the order was carried out by Bedol which resulted in the tampering of the PCOC, SOVM, and SSOV adding votes for the 12 Team Unity candidates ranging from 86,122 to 196,157. The election documents were then submitted for canvassing to the Comelec, then sitting as national board of canvassers at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. The committee sought the issuance of the hold departure order on grounds that Arroyo was insisting to leave the country allegedly to consult medical experts of her own choice and to receive a specialized care and medical attention from other institutions due to her medical condition, which hardly qualifies for an emergency or lifethreatening. The committee claimed that the insistence of accused to leave the country is being done for the purpose of absconding and thereby evading prosecution for their electoral sabotage case. Considering the gravity and magnitude of the offense committed, the damage and prejudice they caused to the electoral and democratic processes of the government, the imposable penalty involved, and the vast resources and international connections of the accused, there is a real danger that they will flee the country to avoid criminal prosecution. Arroyo on Tuesday tried to leave the country with her husband, saying she is seeking medical treatment abroad for a bone ailment, but was stopped at the Manila airport because she was still under investigation. She has denied any wrongdoing, and Arroyo legal spokesman Raul Lambino said Friday the case against her has been fabricated. This is a high form of injustice, Lambino said. Arroyo lawyer Ferdinand Tapacio deplored the indecent haste and criticized what he said was the governments emerging pattern of persecution. The court last week granted her a temporary clearance to travel, but the government still refused to let her go, with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima saying she may be seeking political asylum abroad. The charges stem from allegations that Arroyo conspired with officials to tamper with results of 2007 congressional polls to favor her candidates.

Comelec to file more electoral sabotage cases vs GMA

By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) November 20, 2011 12:00 AM )

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) may file more electoral sabotage cases next week against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and others who were implicated in the 2007 midterm polls fraud.

Arroyo was arrested last Friday at the St. Lukes Hospital in Taguig after the Pasay Regional Trial Court issued a warrant for her arrest.

Former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol were also issued arrest warrants in connection with 2007 election fraud.

The cases to be filed next week will involve the electoral fraud in South Cotabato and North Cotabato.

The Comelec will probably be filing more cases next week as we continue to flesh out the complete story behind allegations surrounding the 2007 elections, said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.

The case was based on the recommendation of the joint panel of the Comelec and the Department of Justice (DOJ) that is investigating the electoral fraud.

Expected to be included in the charge sheet are former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos and military Capt. Peter Reyes, among others, who were not included in the Maguindanao case.

Among the panels witnesses in the new case are Lilian Suan-Radam and Yogi Martirizar, former provincial election supervisors of Comelec for South Cotabato and North Cotabato, respectively.

Radam and Martirizar went into hiding after they were investigated by the Comelec for tampered election results in the two provinces in 2007.

The Comelec had filed electoral sabotage charges against Radam before the Pasay City court while the case against Martirizar is still pending with the poll body.

After four years of hiding, both accused surfaced last September and offered to become witnesses.

As this developed, poll watchdog Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER) yesterday backed the joint panel over accusations of undue haste in suing Arroyo just to prevent her from leaving the country.

IPER executive director Ramon Casiple said the panel was just fulfilling its promise to the people to file charges by November against those involved in the manipulation of the 2007 elections.

He claimed it was also part of the campaign promises of President Aquino to bring to court those who rigged the polls.

I think that (filing of the cases) should have been done much earlier. It took them a while before they were able to do that. I dont think it was done in haste, Casiple added.

He said Arroyo was in panic to go abroad because she knew the timeline of the panel in investigating poll fraud.

He added that Arroyos illness is not life threatening and there has been assurance by Filipino doctors that the procedures she wanted done abroad can be done locally, but she wanted to leave because she knows that the ten in its efforts to penalize those whcases will be stalled if she is not around.

Casiple added that the government should not sofo rigged the elections if it really wanted the countrys polls to be clean, honest and orderly.