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Sunday, May 27, 2007
Davao Sur lawmaker denies poll fraud raps
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- Davao del Sur Representative and gubernatorial candidate Douglas Ra Cagas dismissed accusations of electoral fraud against him as allegedly shown by a video taken inside the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Sulop during the canvassing.
The ABS-CBN TV Patrol showed Friday a video footage taken from a camera phone, showing an alleged vote manipulation activity by a group of personnel from the Comelec.
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The said activity was allegedly financed by Cagas as claimed by a witness who already executed an affidavit before the Comelec in Manila.
In a telephone interview, Cagas said the report of ABS-CBN made it appear that there was vote rigging when in fact the activity therein was just making some corrections on the errors committed by the board of canvassers.
Cagas said the municipal board of canvassers (BOC) earlier informed all concerned parties that there were some errors committed by the canvassers when adding the number of votes.
"Pero instead na mubalik 'tong abugado sa NPC (party of Cagas' opponent), iyang gipabalik ang cameraman (But instead of the NPC lawyer coming back, he sent back the cameraman). Wala may tikas ato kay pati gani kay Claude (Bautista) nitaas ug 1,000 votes parehas ra sa akoa (there was no cheating, in fact, Claude's votes went up by 1,000 like mine)," Cagas said.
He said the video footage shown on TV was edited to make it appear there was indeed cheating.
"Buang gyud ning ABS-CBN, gitanggal tong parts nga nag-estorya sila (Comelec employees) bahin sa error in addition (ABS-CBN is crazy. They took away the portion wherein Comelec employees were talking about the erro in addition). I know this because I was the one who ordered our lawyer and watcher to return the certificates of canvass to the MBOC after mitawag ang MBOC nga nay corrections himoon (The MBOC called to inform of the corrections)," Cagas said.
The television report, however, raised question on the reaction of the Sulop Comelec employees who were even waving at the cameraman taking video footage of them while they were supposedly "cheating."
Cagas's total number of votes after the corrections was increased by a mere 680 votes while his rival's votes, Representative Claude Bautista, increased by 1,000 votes. Cagas said his lead over Bautista in Sulop increased from 350 to only 600 after the corrections were made.
The Cagas camp said only senatorial candidate Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino's votes was corrected, increasing it by 500, while the rest were not altered. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (May 27, 2007 issue)
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