Balay group accused of conspiracy to pin down Gloria Arroyo for poll sabotage

The emergence of fugitive Lintang Bedol under the protection of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo reeked of a “Balay”-managed conspiracy to pin down former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for election sabotage, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

Raul Lambino told the Inquirer in a phone interview that in exchange for discrediting Arroyo, former Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) would be absolved in the massacre of 58 people in Maguindanao in 2009.

“The role of Robredo and other members of the Balay group has become clear now that we know the extent of the backroom negotiations their group had with Ampatuan and Bedol,” Lambino said.

The lawyer claimed that Bedol had been under Robredo’s custody long before the fugitive showed up on Tuesday at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) headquarters after hiding for four years and that Robredo and his Balay allies had coordinated moves of both Ampatuan and Bedol.

Lambino also said that Robredo had struck a deal with Bedol who demanded that he be jailed at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame and not in Camp Bagong Diwa, where Zaldy’s father, former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., and his brother Andal Jr. are detained.

Bedol bribed?

In TV interviews, Zaldy had offered to turn state witness and testify against his father and brother. The three are under detention while on trial for multiple murder. Zaldy also has released unsigned affidavits accusing Arroyo of receiving P200 million in kickbacks for ARMM road projects during her term.

An Inquirer source claimed that Bedol was offered P30 million to come out from hiding while another election operator, former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, who was at the center of the “Hello Garci” vote-rigging scandal in 2004, had turned down offers of up to P50 million to turn against Arroyo.

Lambino said the Balay group, supposedly composed of supporters of defeated vice presidential candidate and now Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, was driven by its rivalry with the “Samar” group to deliver a whistle-blower against Arroyo to President Aquino in time for his State of the Nation Address next Monday.

The blast against Arroyo was needed to lift his declining popularity rating, the lawyer said.

“This is obviously a move driven by warring political factions and not a desire to find justice. If this group is sincere, it will not dare strike a deal with a person charged with mass murder and a notorious political operator and sacrifice the Maguindanao massacre victims for a second time,” Lambino said.

Balay ‘conspirators’

Aside from Robredo, described as the handler of Bedol, Lambino identified the Balay conspirators as Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas (tagged as the emissary of Ampatuan), Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Ging Deles, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman and Secretaries Ricky Carandang and Edwin Lacierda of the presidential communications office.

Lambino said private financiers allied with Balay had provided the resources—including the use of a private jet—to facilitate the negotiations to ensure that Ampatuan and Bedol would come out with the “same script.”

Harry’s claim

Harry Roque, a lawyer of the Maguindanao massacre victims, said he did not think that it was “a coincidence that Zaldy, Bedol and even perhaps Garci communicated at the same time with Robredo.”

“I’m not sure anymore if the recent events are part of the script of Zaldy or Malacañang. I’m distraught at the possibilities. I want to hold GMA accountable but please not at the expense of the massacre victims,” Roque said.

He earlier protested what he termed as the “lawyering” of Robredo and Lacierda for Zaldy even after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had already declared that Zaldy was not eligible to be covered under the government’s witness protection program.

He said that Robredo and Lacierda should just leave the matter to De Lima because it was out of their jurisdiction, or they should resign if they wanted to represent Zaldy Ampatuan.