'Conned bets deserved to lose'

MANILA, Philippines - Losers in the May 10 polls who had paid manipulators or had rejected their offers without reporting them to authorities were “fools” and deserved to lose, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said.

“These candidates claim that they were approached by someone and it’s good that they did not pay these manipulators, otherwise they (would) have fallen (for) their scam. But as for the candidates who paid, they were fools. They were really tricked by a scam artist,” Macalintal told reporters at a forum at the Ilustrado restaurant in Intramuros, Manila yesterday.

He added that those who claimed to have rejected the scam artist’s offer but kept mum about it failed to perform their civic duty and should be denounced.

“That is the obligation of a public servant. If you are a concerned citizen or a government official and somebody approaches you and tells you that they could fix the turnout of the election in your favor, yet you did not do anything then this goes against being a government official,” he said.

“You really deserve to lose the election if this is how you present yourself to the country,” he said to the losing bets.

“The people should not really vote for you… because if you value the country, you should have had these manipulators arrested,” he said.

He said unmasking the manipulators and having them arrested would have been a better option than going to Congress and delaying the joint canvassing in the process.

Distractions

In Angeles City in Pampanga, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the allegations of massive fraud from poll losers were aimed at derailing the proclamation of the country’s new president and vice president.

Puno also said he had an idea of who could be behind what appeared to be an orchestrated effort to prevent the proclamation of president and vice president.

The surfacing of the so-called “Koala boy,” allegations of massive cheating, and the release of the supposed taped conversation between him and Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer were part of a plot to delay the proclamations, according to Puno.

“The objective is very clear – it is to impugn the entire electoral process and to invalidate what is clearly a reflection of the people’s will,” he said.

“I think the people should all join together in making sure that this doesn’t happen,” Puno said.

Top poll execs in fraud

For an outspoken lawyer, the cases of alleged poll fraud were the handiwork of seven Comelec officials – four of whom are regional directors.

But re-elected Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque City dismissed at once the revelations of Homobono Adaza, saying they were all just “hearsay.” 

Adaza made his revelation before the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms.

At the hearing, Golez asked Makati Rep. Teddyboy Locsin to stop Adaza from making any further statement.

Locsin assured Golez that he would no longer allow Adaza to make further unsubstantiated claims.

Adaza, meanwhile, urged Congress to delay the proclamation of winners until the issue of massive fraud is settled. He also said the automated elections should be declared null and void.

Adaza, who was invited by Locsin upon the request of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, revealed that the seven Comelec officials earned P1 billion from manipulating the results of the polls.

He also said “one national candidate allegedly accepted the offer” butrefused to identify the candidate.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, who arrived at the hearing, challenged Adaza to identify the Comelec officials so they can be punished.

“We would like to have them named, and we in fact welcome these allegations that people are corruptible in the Comelec, tell us who they are so we can toss them out,” Jimenez said. With Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla