The vote, 138 years post Andres
The manipulation of the ballot had much to do with the death of hero Andres Bonifacio, the Father of the Philippine Revolution, whose 138th birth anniversary Filipinos commemorate today.
This much was claimed by Bonifacio’s wife Gregoria de Jesus and Santiago Alvarez, son of General Mariano Alvarez, member of the Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or KKK, in their memoirs of the Tejeros Convention.
In this gathering on March 22, 1897, the first Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections were conducted. Voting was open only to Katipuneros.
Álvarez and De Jesús claimed that ballots were already filled out before distribution. Guillermo Masangkay, another Katipunero, said the number of ballots prepared exceeded the number of voters. Many historians note that the small electorate was composed mostly of supporters of Emilio Aguinaldo, who was elected president.
To cut a long story short, Bonifacio did not recognize the results of the elections. Before leaving the assembly in a huff, he dissolved it and nullified the poll results in his capacity as president of the KKK.
Bonifacio, perceived as a threat to the Aguinaldo government, was with his brother when he was captured, tried and, on May 10, 1897, executed in the mountains of Maragondon town, Cavite province.
The alleged manipulation of the ballot figures is prominently displayed in national affairs today.
The Senate continues to investigate allegations that former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo instructed by phone Commission on Elections ex-commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to ensure her win by a margin of one million votes over candidate Fernando Poe Jr. in the presidential elections of 2004.
How can Filipinos forget the “Hello, Garci” scandal that potentially smacks of an injustice now known in penal law as electoral sabotage?
Yesterday, Colonel Pedro Sumayo, a former head of the Military Intelligence Group 21, testified before the Senate that he burned the “Hello, Garci” tape recordings purportedly containing the voice of Arroyo, and that his former boss allegedly offered him P900,000 weeks ago.
Sumayo said Col. Allen Capuyan, then head of the Operations Intelligence Division, instructed him to destroy the tape.
Is this a case of the plot thickening?
The Senate needs to get to the bottom of the “Hello, Garci” affair for the simple reason that it never got to during the Arroyo presidency.
The mere intransigence of Arroyo, then and now, to be investigated, only solidified and solidifies the people’s perception that she wanted to cling to power at all costs.
The Senate probe is another chance for the people to show themselves that desecration of the ballot will not be left unprobed; that the guilty, whoever they may be, can and will be called into account.
Then, we will have made a quantum leap from a malady that appears to have besieged the highest office in our democracy since Bonifacio’s time.
