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Monday, September 29, 2005
General bares poll cheating for Arroyo
By Jonathan F. Fernandez and Marie S. Neri
MANILA -- A military general who was mentioned in the controversial "Hello Garci" tapes said Wednesday that "massive cheating" was done in Lanao del Sur during last year's general elections.
Brigadier General Francisco Gudani, former chief of the 1st Marine Brigade based in Mindanao, said among the irregular acts that he witnessed were hoarding of voters, harassment of election officers, ballot-snatching and intrusion of unregistered watchers.
Gudani appeared during Wednesday's Senate hearing on the wiretapping scandal presided by Senator Rodolfo Biazon.
The general said he also received information that First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo arrived at Lanao del Sur two to three weeks before the May 10, 2004 elections "with P500 million to be given out to the election officers to ensure the victory of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo."
He said then Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano "was the one giving instructions to the election officers in the province on how to manipulate the results of the presidential elections in favor of the President."
He said he could present a witness who would corroborate his allegation against the First Gentleman. He said the witness was with the President's husband on board a private helicopter and that they landed somewhere in Iligan City.
The camp of the First Gentleman strongly denied the accusation in a television interview.
As a result of his appearance in the Senate defense committee investigation, Gudani and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Balutan, who was also present at the hearing, were relieved from their posts and will undergo court martial proceedings for defying an order from President Arroyo, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), not to attend the hearing.
Armed Forces Chief Generoso Senga announced the relief of Gudani and Balutan in a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City Wednesday afternoon. Gudani is the assistant superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) while Balutan is the assistant commandant of the corps of cadets.
Senga said the two officers "violated certain norms in the military organization when they disobeyed the President's order."
He also said military personnel should respect the chain of command as "they are not free to say anything and everything without the authority from the higher ups."
The President has barred the military personnel from appearing before any congressional inquiry without her permission through their immediate superiors.
Aside from Gudani and Balutan, Senga, Philippine Army (PA) Chief Hermogenes Esperon, AFP Inspectorate General's Office Chief Mateo Mayuga, AFP Intelligence Rear Admiral Deputy Chief of Staff Tirso Danga and Intelligence Service of the AFP (Isafp) Chief Marlu Quevedo were also invited to attend the hearing but they did not show up.
The military chief said President Arroyo disallowed them from attending the Senate investigation.
Senga sent a letter to Biazon expressing regret that he would not be able to show up at the inquiry because President Arroyo issued a directive prohibiting military officials from attending any public hearing of the Senate committee on national defense.
But prior to the letter he sent Wednesday, Senga had already transmitted a letter last September 27 saying he cannot attend the hearing because he has to attend to operational matters.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, for his part, said in a press conference that President Arroyo, through Executive Order 464, directed military personnel not to attend the hearing to prevent the repeat of what happened to National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales whose blood pressure shot up after he was grilled by senators on the lobbying contract with the US-based Venable LLP.
Ermita said the senators should respect the President's decision because every official under the Office of the President has the right not to attend any congressional hearing under the principle of the separation of the executive and legislative branches of government.
He denied that the government is suppressing the truth, but "there is a proper forum for the people to find the truth."
Gudani said although the military chief informed him of President's Arroyo order prior to the Senate inquiry, he decided to appear in the hearing to "tell the truth". He criticized some government officials who are using the "chain of command" in the military to stop him from testifying.
He said he will identify the government officials who had tried to stop him from testifying in an executive session.
Gudani and Balutan, upon a motion of Senator Panfilo Lacson, were placed under the legal custody of the Senate so that they could not be declared as absent without official leave (Awol).
He said he believes that he was relieved as head of the 1st Marine Brigade because he "did not cooperate" with efforts to cheat in the elections.
He said the military hierarchy did not give a reason for his relief, only saying that it was for "his own protection". He said Lieutenant General Emmanuel Teodosio, then chief of the Armed Forces Flag Officers in Command, told him that it would be better for him not to go back anymore to Mindanao.
Gudani said deceased actor and opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., who was the most popular presidential contender in last year's elections, did not garner zero votes in Lanao.
"FPJ never got zero votes in Poona, Bayabao in Lanao del Sur," said Gudani. He added that 25 ballot boxes still in Lanao will prove that Poe got votes.
Gudani claimed that he was able "to witness and observed all kinds of cheating in Lanao from start to finish." "In Lanao, all kinds of cheating were done. They were recruiting and herding voters from other towns as flying voters," Gudani said.
He also told senators that Garcillano was a known "batikang mandaraya (veteran fraudster)" in Lanao del Sur.
Gudani, whose name was uttered in a wiretapped conversation between Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and a certain Gene, also confirmed the authenticity of the "Hello Garci" tapes.
At the hearing, Gudani said he was the "general" pertained in one of the tapes who was temporarily relieved in order for the military and Comelec regional officers "to facilitate easy cheating".
Gudani's subordinate, Colonel Alexander Balutan, also testified and corroborated the general's testimony.
Gudani recounted that last year he was assigned to oversee the conduct of fair and peaceful elections in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte. He was the commander of the Joint Task Force Lanao tasked to oversee the peaceful and fair conduct of elections in that area but on May 12 of last year, he was asked by a certain Colonel Pirino to take a leave for rest and recreation, specifically "to play golf" in Boracay.
He said he was also given an order to "slacken" on the security while canvassing was done.
"It is incomprehensible and illogical that I would be asked to leave my unit when my presence as a commander was very material and at a critical time when I was badly needed by his unit during the counting of the votes," Gudani said.
His military superiors' intent became clear when he was able to talk to his classmate at the PMA who is now occupying a top-level position in the Armed Forces.
"He informed me by saying that a lot of money was given to concerned individuals for them to deliver the necessary votes in favor of President Arroyo. Also, my classmate told me that Garcillano asked Comelec official Rey Sumalipao that he could not rig the election with Gudani around," he pointed out.
Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., for his part, criticized Gudani for claiming that election fraud took place in Lanao del Sur and in other provinces in Mindanao. He said if Gudani indeed witnessed election fraud in his area of jurisdiction, he should have arrested those involved.
"The fact that Gudani failed to arrest those who committed the fraud only showed that he is remiss of his duty as military officer deputized by the Comelec to safeguard the elections," he said.
He said Gudani failed to show solid evidence that would support previous claims of the other witnesses that a payoff of election officials transpired in last year's elections to ensure the President's victory. He however said he would initiate an investigation on the matter once he gets a copy of Gudani's statement.
On the alleged act of Garcillano in giving instructions to the election officers to rig the results of the elections, Abalos said the former election commissioner had been assigned to manage the administrative section of the Comelec in last year's electoral process.
And as chief of the Comelec administrative section, he added, Garcillano had the authority over the management and implementation of policies as well as the assignment of personnel.
Senator Biazon said they would treat the disclosure of Gudani regarding the First Genteleman as "raw, unconfirmed and unverified."
Senators lambasted Malacañang for issuing the directive keeping military officers from appearing in any Senate hearing. Biazon said it is the first time that a President has prevented military officers from attending a Senate investigation.
"There is no Constitutional or legal basis for that. Except for invoking the powers of the Commander-in-Chief but that is not the common interpretation of the Constitutional intervention," Biazon said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson warned that the move could cause a rift and an unnecessary confrontation with the Senate. Lacson said it was apparent that Malacañang is panicking in its attempt to cover up alleged misdeeds.
Despite President Arroyo's directive, the Senate will issue subpoenas to General Esperon and other military officials who failed to show up in the hearing.
The Senate has approved a motion to subpoena the military officials who snubbed the hearing despite Malacañang's order preventing them from attending the hearings.
Lacson said Malacañang is courting a possible Constitutional crisis with the move.
Biazon, on the other hand, is hopeful for a meeting of minds between Congress and the Executive to prevent an "institutional confrontation" because it will not be good for the government as a whole.
But Biazon refused to call President Arroyo's move to prohibit military officials to attend the Senate hearings as obstruction of justice. "It might be an attempt to intervene in the functioning of one branch of the government," Biazon added. (With a report from JPM/Sunnex)
(September 29, 2005 issue)
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