Witnesses implicate Abalos in 2007 poll cheating

MANILA, Philippines - No less than Benjamin Abalos, former chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), was involved in the poll rigging operations in 2007, two "surprise" witnesses announced at the Department of Justice (DOJ) today.

Lawyers Lilian Radam and Yogi Martie Rizal, acting election supervisors in South Cotabato and North Cotabato, respectively, claimed before Justice Secretary Leila de Lima during a press conference that Abalos ordered them to manipulate the results of the 2007 senatorial elections.

Radam and Rizal said during the press conference that Abalos gave out the instructions in a meeting at a restaurant in Davao City in 2007.

The two election supervisors said that Abalos ordered them to make sure that senatorial candidates running under the ticket of the administration will win the elections in Mindanao.

De Lima, for her part, said that both witnesses have already been placed under the provisional protective custody of the DOJ's Witness Protection Program due to the gravity of their allegations.

Abalos is the highest ranking Comelec official to have been implicated in the alleged rigging of results of the 2007 senatorial elections this year.

De Lima said the affidavits of the two election officers detailed the alleged instructions from Abalos to assure a "12-0" win for the administration's senatorial ticket in Mindanao.

The Arroyo administration's senatorial candidates under Team Unity won big in the elections in Mindanao in 2007.

According to the witnesses, they were given "financial assistance" by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) to attend to hearings and for their travel allowance after they were charged with electoral sabotage before the Comelec by Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III.

Pimentel had just taken over the seat vacated by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, a member of the Team Unity, who resigned amid fresh allegations of election cheating.

Aside from Abalos, the two new witnesses identified a certain Col. Ben Basiao, who allegedly directly dealt with them about the instructions of Abalos.

Both witnesses also identified Atty. Michael Abbas, who was allegedly directly instructed by Abalos to manipulate the results of the 2007 senatorial elections in Mindanao.

De Lima said during the press conference that Abbas has a reputation of being one of the major poll operators in Mindanao in 2007.

 The two witnesses said that they decided to come out because the government is now openly investigating the 2007 poll rigging allegations. They said they had wanted to come out as early as 2007, but they were allegedly under threat.

One more witness

Meanwhile, De Lima revealed during the press conference that one more witness in the alleged electoral fraud during 2007 elections will come out soon.

De Lima said that the unnamed witness will corroborate the claims of Radam and Rizal and that of Lintang Bedol, former election supervisor in Maguindanao province.

She said that she was just waiting for the surfacing of the witness.

The sudden surge of witnesses in the 2007 and 2004 electoral fraud was started by the revelation of former ARMM regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan, who is jailed for his alleged involvement in the massacre of 58 people in Maguindanao in Nov. 23, 2009.

Aside from the election officers, a team of policemen led by Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago Jr., had submitted affidavits to the DOJ regarding the alleged switching of election returns being kept at the House of Representatives' building in Quezon City in 2005.

The group implicated former Philippine National Police chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and another police official in the operation.