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Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Ex-aide says he saw payoff in Arroyo's house
MANILA -- A former employee of Malacañang said Monday he saw the alleged payoff of election officials, including Virgilio Garcillano, to ensure the victory of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in last year's elections.
Michaelangelo Zuce, who used to work with Presidential assistant for political affairs Joey Rufino as political liaison officer, said the payoff was done during a dinner in the President's house at the Las Vista Subdivision in Quezon City in January 2004.
But Arroyo denied bribing regional directors of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). "It never happened, I deny that," said Arroyo in an interview aired over ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC).
Malacañang, for its part, is planning to file charges against Zuce for making such an accusation.
It is the latest accusation against the President after audiotapes surfaced last June allegedly revealing conversations between Arroyo and Garcillano that tend to show rigging was done in the May 2004 polls.
The audiotapes are the subject of a congressional hearing and resulted in the filing of an impeachment complaint against Arroyo.
But the President said people are being paid to give false testimony as part of the opposition's efforts to topple her on charges of election fraud and corruption.
"There are a lot of people spreading black propaganda about me... especially those who are angry (at me) or who want something, who always need money," Arroyo said in a speech to health workers.
"It is easy for them to sell their testimonies," she added.
Zuce, whose uncle is the husband of Garcillano's sister, revealed what he saw a televised press briefing inside the Bangon Pilipinas office in the Strata2000 building in Ortigas Center, Pasig City Monday morning with lawyer Liwayway Vinzons-Chato at his side.
Zuce said he was present in a dinner held in Arroyo's house with Garcillano and 26 regional directors and provincial supervisors of the Comelec who were assigned in Mindanao; former mayor Lilia Pineda of Lubao, Pampanga and her husband Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda, who is an alleged jueteng lord; and former Isabela governor Faustino Dy Jr.
P30,000
He said when President Arroyo arrived, it was the former mayor of Lubao who gave out P30,000 to each election official. The money that was placed in white envelopes may have been proceeds from the illegal numbers game jueteng, he said.
He added that the President directly solicited the support of the Comelec officials to ensure her victory in the 2004 presidential elections.
Prior to the alleged payoff, Zuce said he also distributed money to election officials in Mindanao sometime in 2002 on Garcillano's instructions, in exchange for their support for Arroyo in last year's presidential elections.
He said Garcillano told him that the money came from Bong Pineda, referring to the alleged jueteng lord.
Zuce said he informed Garcillano of his plan to come out in public and reveal the alleged payoff at the President's house but he was told by the former election official "bahala ka sa buhay mo (it's up to you)."
He said he decided to come forward out of fear for his life upon learning that Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane was looking for him.
Ally
Asked why he was accompanied by Chato, who is a known ally of the opposition, Zuce said he sought the help of the lawyer because she and her group had protected former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong, who earlier exposed the President's alleged cheating in last year's elections based on the wiretapped chat between Arroyo and Garcillano.
Opposition leader and Sorsogon Representative Francis Escudero said they have five witnesses who will corroborate Zuce's statement on the payoff.
Escudero said they may include Zuce as among their witnesses in the impeachment trial of the President.
He asked President Arroyo to just take a leave of absence if she does not want to resign when the impeachment proceedings against her starts.
Escudero said that as Arroyo admitted that she is now an accused, she should perhaps focus herself on ways to defend herself rather than continue to perform her job as President.
At the Comelec, Commissioner Resurreccion Borra said he has not heard about any payoff of election regional directors.
Borra also said he does not want to dignify the accusation by commenting further. "I do not want to add to rumor-mongering," he said.
Comelec Regional Director Renato Magbutay of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, who was assistant regional director of Western Mindanao during the May 10 elections, denied he was among the election officers who were allegedly bribed.
"I was not part of it and I am denying that," said Magbutay.
"I never left for Manila because I was busy with the preparations for the May elections and I had never been to the house of the President in La Vista," he added.
The President criticized the opposition for coming out with witnesses and presenting them in public rather than in the impeachment hearing, which is the proper venue.
Arroyo faces an impeachment complaint filed against her by opposition and party-list congressmen for alleged culpable violations of the 1987 Constitution, betrayal of public trust, bribery, and graft and corruption.
Incredible
The case has been referred to the House committee on justice, which will assess if the complaint is sufficient in form and in substance.
Presidential adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio, for his part, said they will file charges against Zuce. He described Zuce's claim as "incredible."
Claudio said Malacañang lawyers are studying Zuce's statements to determine what particular case will be filed against him.
He confirmed that Zuce worked in Malacañang as political liaison officer, but Zuce resigned last May 19, 2004.
Claudio dismissed the allegations of Zuce, as he wondered why the President would trust an ordinary employee like him to be in a sensitive gathering like that in her house, if there was any. (Sunnex/AFP/Sun.Star Cebu)
Related links:
Sona 2005
Sona 2004
Sona 2003
Sona 2002
Sona 2001
(August 2, 2005 issue)
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