Did Mike Arroyo fund post-election ‘special operations’ in Lanao?

(Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and ‘Probe’) (Conclusion)

The Wao election returns secured from the Comelec and Namfrel indicated that Poe obtained 7,647 votes against Arroyo’s 3,816 votes. In the municipal COC, the tables were turned: Arroyo had 7,614 votes while Poe had 4,967 votes. The poll results in Bumbaran and Saguiran followed the same pattern.

Batugan and Macadaub said election officials intentionally delayed the canvassing of votes in Mindanao to make way for their "follow-up" operations. Elections officials had supposedly received a substantial amount before the polls and the money they distributed was for extra work that had to be done.

Zuce, who was then on Rufino’s staff, confirmed this in a separate interview. He also said that while administration operators worked independently of each other, it was clear to all that the First Gentleman had his own unit working in Mindanao. Zuce himself operated in Mindanao together with the group of Garcillano and Rufino. His tasks were similar to that of Macadaub and Batugan — emissaries assigned to monitor, coordinate and deliver money to election officials.

In the follow-up operations, the budget for the elections officers was between P30,000 and P50,000, depending on the size of the town’s voting population, said Macadaub. Every vote to cover the losses of President Arroyo was allegedly paid P10, while votes added in excess of the FPJ lead were equivalent to P20 each. A P5,000 to P10,000 "deposit" was made before the municipal canvass. Full payment was made upon the submission of a photocopied COC to administration emissaries.

The movement members said they worked independently, but were supposedly endorsed to the election officers by phone by Garcillano. Macadaub explained, "We did not know the people we were supposed to meet or talk to. So Garci called them to advise that we were arriving with the money."

Batugan and Macadaub admitted they are spilling the beans because they were disappointed with the First Gentleman. He did not fulfill his promise, they said. They had wanted government jobs. Said Macadaub: "We didn’t even ask for money. To tell you honestly, I went to Jolo for P5,000 only as my expenses. When I visited at the time, most were for FPJ." He said Mrs. Arroyo would have lost had they not gone there.

The disgruntled Lanao Unity Movement members wrote the First Gentleman and his son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, to remind them of their promise. Two letters, one dated September 2004, the other March 2005, were signed by three movement members. It put on record "clandestine" operations in the 2004 presidential polls to secure an Arroyo victory. One even provided specific details of the irregular activities that included "approaching, convincing Board of Election Officers and Local Election Officers to facilitate and ensure that all votes be for PGMA in consideration of a certain amount of money" for each election official.

Surprisingly, the Office of the President answered one of the letters. The reply, written on a Malacañang letterhead and signed by Assistant Secretary Juris Soliman, said that while the First Gentleman acknowledges the "invaluable support" extended to his wife, he "does not and cannot meddle with governance of the administration."

In fact, the alleged activities of Moner’s group are an open secret in Lanao. Macadaub and Batugan even said they had planned to come out with their story as early as June, when the Garci tapes scandal first broke. They thought of joining a protest rally that was supposed to greet President Arroyo in Cagayan de Oro, but Malacañang somehow got wind of their plan. The President reportedly called for Judge Moner who was supposedly asked to pacify his men.

Moner promised the men Malacañang would attend to their needs in two weeks. "We agreed," said Macadaub. "That day we even held a press con... instead of protesting, we again promoted her, supported her." The group also condemned the opposition for supposedly recruiting them for a plot against the President. But even then, they didn’t get what they were promised.

Meanwhile, the townsfolk of Poona Bayabao have only recently learned that they had likely been robbed of their votes, and only because of a fluke. A town of just a little more than 17,000, a third of whom were registered voters in 2004, Poona Bayabao can provide only the bare minimum to its residents. Even the very basic services are lacking here.

"We have electricity only 20 minutes every day," said police chief SPO1 Alimundas Lucman. "Sometimes we have none for the whole day. Here at the police station, we don’t even have vehicles so when trouble breaks out, we can’t respond right away."

But by some stroke of luck, there was electricity when the story about the presidential election results in Poona Bayabao made TV news recently. Recalled Namfrel’s Dibansa, who refused to discuss what he said was a threat to his life: "It was only from TV that most of us here learned about how President Arroyo’s opponents got no votes, including FPJ."

Lucman, meanwhile, looked like he still couldn’t believe what he had heard. He said Poona Bayabans grew up worshipping Poe as the fearless Muslim policeman in the movie "Magnum .357." "How could we forget him?" he said. "And with us Muslims, we want our leaders to be men."