Sotto slams Pangilinan over alleged poll fraud

MANILA, Philippines—Too late the hero.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III is unhappy about his colleague’s belated condemnation of alleged cheating in the 2004 presidential election, now that several witnesses have come out and volunteered to testify in court.

Sotto apparently has not forgiven Senator Francis Pangilinan whose words, he said, came seven years late, long after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo completed her term and candidate Fernando Poe Jr. had died.

He didn’t mind that Pangilinan is the husband of his goddaughter, celebrity Sharon Cuneta. He said: “I’m just calling a spade a spade.”

Sotto recalled that as a member of the National Board of Canvassers in 2004, Pangilinan merely “noted” persistent motions by his camp to scrutinize election returns purportedly showing that Arroyo had cheated Poe. Sotto was then Poe’s campaign manager.

“Ngayon sila dada nang dada eh nung 2004, puro sila ‘noted,'” an incensed Sotto told the Inquirer Friday night. “They’re too late the hero. I hate to say this but ‘I told you so.'”

A tough-talking Pangilinan released a statement urging the Department of Justice and the Commission on Elections to “dig deep and leave no stones unturned” in investigating resurrected allegations that Arroyo had stolen the vote in 2004.

The joint investigation began after Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago and his group admitted to breaking into the Batasan Complex in 2005 to replace original ERs with fake ones. The supposed objective was to cover up election fraud should a recount of votes be mandated by the Supreme Court, which as presidential electoral tribunal, was at the time handling an electoral protest filed by Poe.

“Walang sinuman ang dapat santuhin dito (There should be no sacred cows in this issue),” said Pangilinan, who was ridiculed as “Mr. Noted” during the canvassing of votes for president.

“In a democratic process, it is through an election that the citizens are given a voice in governance. To make a mockery of this process is to make a mockery of democracy. The public deserve no less than the whole truth.”

He said questions over the authenticity of the ERs could have been settled if only Pangilinan and then House Majority Leader Raul Gonzalez, also a member of the NBC, allowed the opening of just one such document during the canvassing at the Batasan.

Said Sotto: “If only that was also his attitude when I was asking for the opening of just one, just one, just one measly election return!”

“But they were blocking us each step of the way,” Sotto said.

He said his camp was particularly pushing for the opening of ERs in Pangasinan, Cebu, Iloilo, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Some areas in Cebu, for instance, recorded a voter turnout higher than the number of registered voters, he alleged.

Pangilinan explained that as a member of the canvassing committee in 2004, he decided “on the basis of the evidence available.”

“All the evidence now surfacing seven years later was not available then,” he said. “In 2004, we did not know about ‘Hello Garci,’ but when we learned about the taped conversations in 2005, out of principle, we did not hesitate to condemn the acts of (Arroyo) then and called for her immediate resignation.”

He added: “In keeping with this principled position, we refused a slot in the administration ticket in 2007 and opted to run as an independent.”

With witnesses now available, he said, he was also “interested in the whole truth because it will be a chance for those involved in cheating to be unmasked.”