Witness tags GMA, Mike A in Lanao poll fraud

A witness at yesterday’s Senate hearings on the "Hello, Garci" audiotapes tagged President Arroyo and her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, in the alleged distribution of P3 million in election bribe money to ensure the victory of Mrs. Arroyo in Lanao del Sur.

Also linked to the election fraud scandal by former provincial board candidate Ahmare Lucman was Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) general manager Alfonso Cusi, who was then general manager of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA). Cusi is seen as a close associate of the First Gentleman.

According to Lucman, the President’s husband and Cusi delivered P1 million to Marawi City on the afternoon of May 13 through Wahab Batugan, brother of Sharia Circuit Court Judge Nagamura Moner of Wao-Bumbaran, Lanao del Sur.

But Cusi, while admitting that he knew Judge Moner, denied that he gave him bribe money during the elections.

"None. There was none. It’s not true that I gave them money," Cusi said, adding he got to meet Moner because the judge was a brother-in-law of an employee at the PPA.

The second payoff incident allegedly took place on June 16 at the PPA office in Cagayan de Oro, Lucman said. According to him, P2 million changed hands during that meeting.

The money - placed inside a blue paper bag - purportedly came from the President, who had arrived in Cagayan City that morning, Lucman said.

At around 7p.m., Lucman said he accompanied Moner to a meeting with Mrs. Arroyo at the Pryce Hotel that some Cabinet officials also attended. Lucman said he was not privy to the details of the meeting because he was not allowed to enter the room where it was held.

At the height of the canvassing of votes in Lanao when Mrs. Arroyo was losing by a wide margin to the late actor and presidential contender Fernando Poe Jr., at least P50,000 was given to each election officer who agreed to rig the poll results in Mrs. Arroyo’s favor, Lucman charged.

He also said election officers were given P10 for each vote added to Mrs. Arroyo’s lead in the municipal canvassing of votes.

"All this time of the special operation, the whole operation involved four people including myself and Abdul Wahab Batagun, who was deciding which election officers... to pay, and which not to pay," Lucman said, reading from his notarized two-page affidavit.

Lucman testified yesterday before the Senate hearing on the wiretapped conversations between the President and controversial former election officer Virgilio Garcillano.

Lucman’s testimony was later refuted by Moner, however.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense, earlier expressed belief that Moner would pin down the President and her husband in the alleged election fraud in the 2004 election.

"Lucman implicated (the President) and (First Gentleman) in the delivery of money to (election) officials," Biazon said.

Lucman’s testimony was more credible than Moner’s inconsistency, he noted.

Despite this, Biazon said his committee would not issue a subpoena against the First Gentleman, although Mr. Arroyo is not covered by Executive Order 464 barring government officials from attending congressional inquiries without presidential approval.

"I am not going to invite him, but he is free to come. If he will come, it (would be) okay," he said.

But the sudden change in Moner’s testimony yesterday contradicted his signed affidavit, which had earlier been forwarded to the committee. This raised more questions regarding the credibility of the judge as a witness.

"The statements there were not really meant for swearing in. I informed Pulido about that. They are not the truth," Moner said. "I was not coerced. I was tricked. I was fooled. I was victimized into signing that document." Moner was referring to Rafael Pulido, his former lawyer.

Moner’s first "affidavit" was critical because he detailed his personal dealings with the First Gentleman in the alleged election fraud, and he could have corroborated Lucman’s statement.

To counter his former client’s statements, Pulido even presented a taped conversation between Moner and Pulido before Moner terminated his services.

"I could not have tricked the honorable judge. Before I became their lawyer I did not know who he was. I recorded the entire meeting with their consent. In those tapes I asked them repeatedly many questions," Pulido said.

Lucman said he met the President’s husband and Cusi in Cagayan de Oro in April 2004.

Lucman was endorsed by Moner as a nominee for president of the Lanao Unity Movement for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (LUM) to supervise the campaign of the President.

Lucman said the LUM, with the blessings of Moner, was tasked to recruit candidates from the opposition, particularly the parties of presidential bets Fernando Poe Jr., Raul Roco and Eddie Gil.

"When the (Poe) victory in Lanao del Sur became irreversible in the counting," Lucman said, "Judge Nagamura Moner called me to relay the instruction from (Mr. Arroyo) and Alfonso Cusi that the LUM would shift to special operations by concentrating on municipal canvasses to ensure the landslide victory of GMA in Lanao del Sur at all cost and no matter how much." — With Rainier Allan Ronda