Arroyo faces ’07 election sabotage raps

There is another pressing reason for former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s lawyers to work double-time.

Already the subject of five plunder suits, Arroyo has been recommended to be charged with electoral sabotage by the joint fact-finding panel of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commission on Elections (Comelec) “for giving direct instructions” to rig the results of the 2007 midterm elections in Maguindanao.

The seven-member panel headed by Assistant Justice Secretary Zabedin Azis presented its report to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima Thursday, barely three months after it began its investigation.

“It’s comprehensive enough [to warrant a preliminary investigation],” De Lima said of the 81-page report.

Former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, retired Election Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, and former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, De Lima’s predecessor, are among the 36 personalities recommended to be charged with electoral sabotage, a nonbailable offense punishable by life imprisonment.

The panel also recommended the “further investigation” of Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, incumbent Comelec official Ray Sumalipao, and 10 others for “taking part, directly or indirectly, in the rigging of the election results.”

It said it did not have “sufficient inculpatory evidence against them.”

Conspiracy

In its report, the DOJ-Comelec panel said “the tampering of the election results in the province of Maguindanao through the preparation of manufactured election returns (ERs)” constituted “a conspiracy.”

It said the fabricated ERs “became the basis of the canvass, thereby resulting in the increase of votes, on a large scale and in substantial numbers, to the prejudice of other candidates.”

On August 3, Juan Miguel Zubiri resigned as senator after admitting that he might have unwittingly benefited from the election irregularities in Maguindanao.

The panel also said that in addition to his supposed role in altering the poll results in Maguindanao, Abalos gave “direct orders” to then South Cotabato Election Supervisor Lilian Radam and North Cotabato Election Supervisor Yogie Martirizar to tamper with the ERs in their respective provinces.

While the panel used the testimonies of Radam and Martirizar in indicting Abalos, it included the two women in the list of those recommended to be charged.

But it said the two women could qualify as state witnesses because they signed the altered ERs “allegedly under threats or duress.”

The panel also approved the filing of criminal and administrative cases against 19 other provincial and municipal poll officers for alleged violation of election laws.

De Lima said that she saw no reason to revise the fact-finding panel’s recommendations, and that she had ordered Prosecutor General Claro Arellano to convene the preliminary investigation committee on Monday.

The five-member committee, also composed of DOJ and Comelec officials, was assigned to determine if there was probable cause to indict Arroyo et al.

In a news briefing, the justice secretary assured the would-be respondents that the joint DOJ-Comelec preliminary investigation committee would observe fairness and objectivity in handling the case.

“This is not the first time that we will conduct this kind of investigation. The secretary of justice will always be on top of these things. But if [I supervise] this, it doesn’t mean that I’m intervening in the result of the investigation,” she told reporters.

Unas’ affidavit

In recommending the filing of a case against Arroyo, the fact-finding panel used the sworn statement of former Maguindanao Administrator Norie Unas as basis.

Unas claimed to have heard Arroyo instructing then Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. to ensure the victory of all 12 administration senatorial candidates in the province during a dinner at the Palace shortly before the May 2007 elections.

“[She gave a] direct instruction to manipulate the results of the senatorial elections in Maguindanao by ordering [Ampatuan] to implement a 12-0 result in the province of Maguindanao in favor of the Team Unity senatorial candidates,” the panel said in its report.

It added that Arroyo had directed Ampatuan “to alter or change the results if necessary.”

Despite his testimony linking Arroyo to the poll irregularities, Unas was also recommended to be charged for “providing the already prepared/filled up [ERs] for national positions.”

Unas, who also testified at the Senate inquiry into election fraud, allegedly gave “logistical, operational and security support” to carry out the alleged poll cheating.

Arroyo, now the representative of the second district of Pampanga province, will appear before the joint investigation committee as long as she can endure the rigors of the probe, according to Raul Lambino, her legal spokesperson.

Lambino said that Arroyo had appeared before the DOJ when she was summoned, and that he saw no reason why she would not do so again if her presence was required. “But only if her doctors will allow it, because her health remains fragile,” he said in a phone interview.

Arroyo’s doctors said she was afflicted with “bone mineral disorder.” But they reported a marked improvement in her condition in the latest medical bulletin issued a day after her Tuesday checkup at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

Nevertheless, her family is considering medical treatment abroad for her, her spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn said on Wednesday.

Lambino said it was premature for Arroyo’s critics to declare that she would be jailed because it would be up to the court to assess whether the evidence was sufficiently strong to justify her arrest.

He said he was not surprised by the recommendation of the fact-finding panel because it was merely complying with the purported intent of President Aquino to pin down Arroyo for election cheating “no matter what.” With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.

Originally posted at 03:05 pm | Thursday, October 20, 2011