Cusi, Devanadera tagged in poll fraud

MANILA, Philippines - A former Shari’a court judge yesterday implicated former Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) chairman Alfredo Cusi and former acting justice secretary Agnes Devanadera in the alleged massive cheating in Mindanao in the 2004 presidential elections.

Testifying before a Senate inquiry on suspected anomalous helicopter purchases by the police, Nagamura Moner also implicated former interior secretary Ronaldo Puno in the fraud.

Earlier, Moner had said former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo handed out bribes to manipulate the poll results and ensure the victory of his wife, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, against the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.

Moner accused Devanadera of trying to cover up the poll fraud allegations. He said Devanadera, then undersecretary for legal affairs, was the one who coached him and about 16 election officers in June 2004 to say that the elections were credible in Mindanao.

The meeting allegedly took place on June 5 at Oakwood Hotel in Makati City, where he returned about P1.780 million to Cusi. The amount was what remained of an aggregate P8 million used in poll cheating.

Moner also revealed efforts by former President Arroyo to reach out to him to make sure that he would not spill the beans on his role during the 2004 elections.

“I met with GMA inside a room at the Pryce Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City with Bert Gonzales and I told her that she has no problem with me, to which she said, thank you,” Moner said, referring to former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales, a known Arroyo ally.

Prior to this, Moner said he received P3 million from his brother-in-law, Efren Bollozos, to talk him and his team out of publicly revealing what they knew about the 2004 poll fraud.

According to him, it was at this point that he met Cusi to thresh out the “restiveness” of his associates “so they will not expose their participation or involvement in the cheating.”

Moner said it was Cusi who instructed him to meet and tell the former president that “she has no problem with me as far as the election was concerned.”

He also named election officer Renault Macarambon, who was mentioned in the so-called “Hello, Garci” tapes as the one taking care of Lanao del Sur for ex-president Arroyo “not to worry” about her lead in Mindanao.

Moner: I have first-hand knowledge

He also recalled that he and his wife attended the birthday celebration of Mr. Arroyo in Malacañang on June 26, 2004.

“I was introduced to the other guests as the operator in Mindanao,” he said, adding he was also present during the inauguration rites at Quirino Grandstand.

For all his efforts, Moner said he was promised to be appointed as head of the Office of Muslim Affairs but he failed to get the post since he deliberately did not submit his resumé for the position.

“I was vacillating whether or not I should stay on as a Shari’a judge,” he admitted.

Moner testified that money changed hands from as low as P5,000 up to P100,000 from local election officers up to top election officers, as well as some Muslim judges who were involved in making sure that Mrs. Arroyo won over FPJ.

He also mentioned the name of former election officer Lintang Bedol, who was present at Camp Sioco beside the Awang Airport where Maguindanao votes were being canvassed.

The camp was then under the command of former AFP Gen. Roy Kyamko, Moner said.

Asked what took him so long to come out and tell the truth about the poll fraud, Moner said he could no longer bear the threats he and his family were receiving to stay silent on the cheating.

“It seems it’s a different environment now,” he said, adding that he is now under the protection of Carmelite Sisters, whom he contacted for security despite his being a Muslim.

“That is the irony. I am a Muslim and I am being given sanctuary by the (Catholic) church,” Moner said.

Seeing the bigger picture

The Senate hearing yesterday on the PNP chopper controversy was diverted to alleged poll fraud in 2004 after Sen. Panfilo Lacson called in Moner to explain how he moved around key areas in Mindanao using helicopters.

Moner’s name was in the flight manifest of passengers of LionAir earlier presented during the hearing.

He said he had the impression that the helicopter he used was probably loaned from LionAir or possibly the ones supposedly owned by the first gentleman.

It was in Zamboanga City airport that he saw his pilot boarding the private plane, which was supposedly carrying former secretary Puno at the height of the canvassing operations on May 15, 2004.

It was also during that time when Moner said he called up Cusi to inquire if Mr. Arroyo was in Zamboanga City. He learned later that Puno was on the private plane and not Mr. Arroyo.

During his testimony, Moner said two of his accomplices, Manuel Dirindigun and Alfrasad Sabal, were separately killed apparently because they were spilling the beans about the poll fraud.

It was Sabal who guided TV broadcaster Karen Davila for an interview with Moner.

Mike denies allegations

However, Mr. Arroyo’s lawyer Inocencio Ferrer dismissed Moner’s latest allegations.

Ferrer questioned Moner’s credibility and said that he already testified under oath in 2005 before the Senate on the “Hello, Garci” scandal that Arroyo was never involved in any anomaly in connection with the 2004 elections.

“The statements of this witness are completely untrue and baseless. Incredible, unreliable, and flip-flopping witnesses against my client, like this Mr. Nagamura Moner, are coming out one at a time as if each has his own cue,” Ferrer said in a statement.

He said his client denied “all the preposterous, incredible and untrue claims regarding his involvement in the alleged 2004 poll fraud.”

He described Moner’s testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee as “vague, inconsistent, unclear, conflicting, unfounded, and purely based on hearsay.”

He said most of Moner’s testimony “was even out of and beyond the scope of, and not even remotely related to, the present inquiry into the alleged PNP helicopter purchase controversy.”

Ferrer said the sudden appearance of Moner clearly showed that the inquiry was a waste of taxpayers’ money.

He said the Office of the Ombudsman must prosecute Moner after he admitted committing illegal acts.

“It is very obvious that these alleged witnesses seem to follow a script in this unfair demolition job against Mr. Arroyo. The ill-motives of these incredible, unreliable, and flip-flopping witnesses are very apparent,” Ferrer said. – Paolo Romero