|
Friday, August 19, 2005
'Cebuanos did not cheat'
CEBU CITY -- Cebu's officials fired back at the opposition for alleging that cheating took place here during the 2004 presidential polls, as shown by tampered election returns (ERs).
"Ang Cebuanos wala nanikas but muadmit nga gitikasan (The Cebuanos did not cheat but will admit that they were cheated)," said Cebu Archdiocesan media liaison officer Monsignor Achilles Dakay.
Dakay also said boxes sent to Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal may contain copies of election returns from different opposition candidates.
The cardinal has not yet looked at these boxes, though.
Dakay said it will eventually be proven that no electoral fraud happened in Cebu.
In a separate interview, Cebu Provincial Election Officer Edwin Cadungog said the alleged tampered ERs presented by the opposition can be verified if their serial numbers match the serial numbers of ERs in the minutes of the board of canvassers and board of election inspectors.
At Cebu City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña challenged Thursday opposition congressmen to produce copies of the tampered ERs so he can prove that their documents are fabricated.
The mayor said he will summon all those who took part in last year's elections, from the election officer down to the voter, once he gets the exact precinct number where the alleged cheating occurred.
"I challenge them, just show the returns. Let them pick any return they want but they have to show it and let's compare if it's consistent with our copy. I will defend it on that basis and I'll make liars out of all of them," Osmeña, an ally of President Arroyo, told a news conference.
For her part, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said, "It's rather surprising after a year, in the midst of all of these dramatic pronouncements from jueteng, to election to Garci (tapes). Have we not had enough of these operatic presentations?"
Cadungog shares the governor's view. He said lawyers of the late presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. and his runningmate Loren Legarda should have noticed the tampered ERs during the canvassing of votes.
"Why are they coming out with these only now? They should have protested during the canvassing," Cadungog told Sun.Star Cebu.
Legarda's camp said Thursday they are studying the filing of robbery charges against the policemen and intelligence agents who staged an "illegal" raid on the house of a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) handwriting expert in San Mateo, Rizal last Tuesday that resulted in the seizure of "prefabricated" ERs.
Sixto Brillantes, Legarda's lawyer in the election protest she filed against Vice President Noli de Castro, accused members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) of "stealing private property."
He said the raid on the house of Segundo Taboyo-yong, former NBI handwriting expert who is an opposition supporter, was done without a search warrant.
Brillantes said Legarda had commissioned Tabayo-yong to check possible tampering of ERs used in last year's presidential and vice presidential elections.
He added that Tabayo-yong was also asked by the opposition to look at the ERs in relation to the impeachment complaint against the President, who is accused of rigging the polls with help of former elections commissioner Virgilio "Garci" Garcillano.
The opposition has presented ERs from Pampanga, Las Piñas, Iloilo, Bohol and Cebu that were "tampered."
They said the ERs would translate to at least six million "tampered" votes.
However, Cadungog told the opposition to wait for the hearings in the Senate Electoral Tribunal on Legarda's election protest because the documents they are questioning will be presented.
Governor Garcia, an ally of the President, also said the opposition should not complain because even at the precinct level, they had their own poll inspectors and at the canvassing, they had their lawyers and watchers.
"If they are claiming fraud in Cebu, are they claiming that Namfrel, C-Cimpel and their own inspectors and lawyers committed the same fraud or at least allowed such fraud? It's rather a curious delayed reaction," Garcia said in a news conference.
In reaction to talks that some government officials have lost their trust in the Cebu-Citizens Involvement and Maturation for People's Empowerment and Liberation (C-Cimpel), Msgr. Dakay said C-Cimpel is just an arm that watches over the results of the elections.
Dakay said C-Cimpel's work is to educate voters, but it failed to also educate the candidates not to cheat and bribe the voters.
He further said they are successful in educating the people but the politicians who run in the elections need to be replaced by law-abiding citizens.
"We need bright and good citizens to run our country. We may succeed in educating the citizens but the people running the country need more educating so that they can do well in their job," Dakay pointed out. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(August 19, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
