Members of fraud probe team named

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed yesterday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have already designated the members of the five-man panel that will investigate alleged cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, chief of the National Prosecution Service, was appointed chairman of the committee, with Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan, poll body lawyer Michael Villaret, Laguna Provincial Prosecutor George Dy and Pasig City Prosecutor Jacinto Ang as members.

De Lima said the joint panel, whose members were chosen for their wide experience in election-related cases and as former boards of canvassers during elections, will start performing their duties that would be spelled out in a joint order of the DOJ and Comelec.

“The committee is tasked to conduct preliminary investigation and determine whether charges may be filed and against who in connection to the poll fraud anomalies,” she explained.

She stressed that those found liable for election fraud and other offenses will be charged in court.

“It could go up to GMA (former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo),” said Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes when asked how high the investigation would target.

Brillantes was the lawyer of actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004, while De Lima was the counsel of losing senatorial bet Aquilino Pimentel III in the election protests related to the 2007 polls.

De Lima said their links to their former clients are irrelevant, assuring the public of a fair investigation.

“We are not doing this to declare who the real winners were. We’re here to confirm existence of fraud, its extent and who should be held liable. This has nothing to do with Koko Pimentel or FPJ (Poe),” she stressed.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago Jr. submitted to the DOJ an affidavit detailing the alleged switching of 2004 election returns inside the Batasan Pambansa building in Quezon City in early 2005, but fell short of linking former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo to the purported break-in.

Santiago affirmed under oath his allegations that he and his team stole original ERs that were stored at the Batasan Pambansa building and replaced them with fake ones in raids held on four weekends in January and February 2005 upon orders of former Philippine National Police chief and now Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane.

The operations were allegedly aimed to ensure that former President Arroyo would be declared winner in case of a recount of votes that was then being sought by Poe.

There was, however, no mention of Mr. Arroyo in Santiago’s 12-page affidavit despite his earlier claim that he had heard from another person that it was the former first gentleman who allegedly financed the operations.

“We didn’t see him throughout the operations,” he stressed as he admitted that the link to Mr. Arroyo could be established through their former handlers.

But he expressed pessimism this could be achieved: “If you want to come up with the mastermind, nobody will point to him because we have code of silence. But if you tie up things, who benefited from it?”

Santiago, who commanded the police Special Action Force team that conducted the alleged break-in, also admitted that their ER switching operation would not be sufficient to establish Poe’s victory over Arroyo.

“Of course it’s not enough to overturn the results. But it’s not a question of number of votes. It’s about doing the wrong thing, committing election fraud,” Santiago said.

Santiago earlier said there were about 6,000 ERs stolen by their team, 38 of which he kept and submitted to the DOJ last week.

He also did not mention this figure, which De Lima said could involve 1.2 million votes or 100,000 votes over the 1.1 million vote margin of Arroyo over Poe, in his affidavit.

In his affidavit, Santiago revealed that the operation was planned in a meeting on the second week of January 2005 at the Figaro coffee shop at the Ever Gotesco Mall along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Santiago said his boss, then police Special Action Force (SAF) director Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco, and Ebdane were present at that meeting.

He was told that a certain “El Bello” and a certain “Arnold” would be his counterparts in the operation.

“It was during the meeting that I started to learn some of the details of the impending special operations the SAF director has been telling me all along. Gen. Ebdane, being familiar with me,

having been together in PC SAF during the December 1989 failed coup, introduced me to my supposed counterparts in the operation, which I clearly recall as one ‘El Bello’ and a certain ‘Arnold’,” said Santiago.

El Bello is believed to be Roel Bello, son of election lawyer Roque Bello. Both, according to De Lima, have a reputation of being election operators.

Santiago added that Ebdane directed him to coordinate with El Bello’s group for the implementation of the operation before the end of the month.

“The meeting did not last long since no further details about the operation were taken up except for the instruction from Gen. Ebdane for the group of Mr. El Bello to immediately coordinate with the group of SAF and implement the special operations not later than the last week of January 2005 as agreed upon between him and the father of Mr. El Bello,” he recalled.

After the meeting, El Bello told Santiago that the SAF men should give them assistance to access and enter the Batasan Pambansa building, where the ERs used in the 2004 elections were stored.

The raids were conducted on Jan. 23, Jan. 29, Feb. 5 and Feb. 27, 2005.

Among the ERs stolen and purportedly brought to the house of Bello in Brookside, Cainta, Rizal were ERs from Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sultan Kudarat, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Maguindanao, Lanao del Norte, Sarangani and Isabela.

A fifth raid was supposed to have been conducted in March but was aborted since the SAF team had to respond to the hostage-taking incident in Camp Bagong Diwa jail in Bicutan, Taguig staged by jailed Abu Sayyaf members.

He showed the March 16, 2005 edition of The STAR where a photograph of his team responding to the siege was published on the front page.

Santiago’s affidavit would be used in the joint DOJ-Comelec investigation of fraud anomalies in the 2004 and 2007 polls.

His five men - PO2 Alan Layugan, PO2 Trifon Laxamana, PO1 Norman Duco, PO2 Rodel Tabangin and PO2 Rudy Gahar – had earlier submitted to the DOJ their sworn statements affirming their participation in the alleged operations.