Defense ready to secure witnesses in alleged 2004 poll fraud

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of National Defense (DND) is ready to secure the witnesses who will reveal the alleged fraudulent activities during the 2004 presidential elections.

“I am sure there are certain arrangements that will be made for this particular need. The defense department, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and all those concerned will take cognizance of this and will provide for the safety of whoever is going to come out as witnesses,” DND spokesman Eduardo Batac said.

“When you talk of security measures, whatever is required to ensure the security of witnesses is provided for,” he added.

Batac also encouraged soldiers who know something about the poll fraud to heed President Aquino’s call for transparency and accountability.

“That is the requirement right now, to come out in the open and find out what really happened,” he said. “It (disclosing what they know about the alleged poll fraud) is basically toeing the line of the President’s guidance for transparency and accountability.”

Batac also welcomed reports that some Marines have expressed willingness to shed light about the controversy.

“I think the Marine officers (and) personnel in question are now more open or more at liberty to talk about what they really know,” the DND spokesman said.

Former renegade officer Marine Col. Ariel Querubin said the willingness of the Marines to help in the investigations would encourage others to testify.

“(Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Juancho) Sabban has said the Marines will cooperate. I think this may snowball,” he said.

Querubin claimed that some of the soldiers involved in the cheating are still in service.

“But of course, we know that during the time, they were just under orders,” he said.

Batac declined to comment on the findings of the Mayuga commission, the body tasked to investigate the alleged irregularities during the 2004 elections. He, however, expressed confidence that the full report of the commission would eventually be released.

“We still go back to the basic guideline of transparency. The President has said that we will open this (Mayuga report) up...It will come out. It’s on the need to know basis,” Batac said.

In 2005, some military generals were accused of cheating after their names were mentioned in recordings that supposedly described the way the 2004 polls were rigged in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The recordings featured the voice of a woman asking a poll official if she could win by more than one million votes. Arroyo eventually apologized for talking to a poll official but did not confirm whether she owns the voice in the recordings.

In a report titled “Sins of the Cavaliers,” a group of rebel soldiers claimed that while the canvassing of votes was being held inside military camps in Jolo, poll watchers were bribed by officers for them to leave the canvassing area. The report claimed massive cheating also took place in Zamboanga, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and other areas in Western Mindanao where the Marines have been deployed.

In 2006, a fact-finding group led by then Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga cleared the generals of involvement in the alleged cheating. Cleared were then Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, then Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, retired Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko and retired Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani.

The generals who figured in the controversy were not punished and were even promoted or named to key state posts. However, only a two-page executive summary of the Mayuga report was made public. Mr. Aquino has bared plans to study the complete version of the report. 

Last week, Mr. Aquino signed Executive Order 1 creating the Truth Commission, a body that will look into the alleged misdeeds of the Arroyo administration.