MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo might spend Christmas in jail should the justice department find probable cause for the filing of election sabotage charges against them relating to alleged massive cheating during the 2007 elections.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes said he and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima have agreed that the charges would be filed before Christmas.
“We’re only determining probable cause, we are not looking for the guilty verdict. We just want to establish probable cause, substantial evidence to initiate the filing, bolster the filing of electoral sabotage, which is a non-bailable offense,” Brillantes said.
“Since it is a non-bailable offense, then it means (the respondents) will be jailed at once,” Brillantes added.
Asked if the Arroyos might end up in jail by Christmas, Brillantes said it depends since the couple might ask for some leeway.
Brillantes was interviewed after the Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed his nomination as Comelec chairman.
Under the law, it is considered electoral sabotage “when the tampering, increase and/or decrease of votes perpetrated or the refusal to credit the correct votes or to deduct tampered votes, is/are committed in the election of a national elective office.”
Electoral sabotage shall also involve more than 10,000 votes that have been tampered to increase or decrease. This offense is punishable with life imprisonment.
Brillantes earlier said the Arroyo couple could face life imprisonment if they are convicted of rigging the 2007 elections in Maguindanao.
The Comelec chief said tampering with the results of the 2007 polls and other elections thereafter constitutes electoral sabotage under Republic Act 9369 or the Poll Automation Law.
“If you look at the magnitude of votes involved, it is definitely tantamount to electoral sabotage. The (14) election officers (EOs) that we presented could prove there were irregularities that took place in the 2007 elections there. That’s a lot of votes,“ he said.
The joint investigating panel of the Comelec and the Department of Justice (DOJ) had presented the other day 14 election officers and one Computerized Voter’s List technician from 15 towns in Maguindanao who have issued separate affidavits that they canvassed election returns (ERs) that were pre-prepared.
The results of the canvassing had posted a 12-0 win in favor of the senatorial candidates of Mrs. Arroyo’s Team Unity (TU) administration slate.
Brillantes added that there are 22 municipalities in Maguindanao and other EOs are also willing to testify that there was rampant poll cheating in the province in 2007.
The Comelec-DOJ panel had also presented former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas who “categorically and directly linked the Arroyo couple to the manipulation of the province’s elections to gain a 12-0 victory for the TU senatorial bets.”
Unas claimed that the Arroyos had instructed former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., for whom he worked from 2001 to 2009, to make the TU candidates win.
Unas is credible
During the CA hearing, Brillantes said Unas’ closeness to ex-Gov. Ampatuan makes him credible.
Brillantes said that Unas was the governor’s former provincial administrator when he was first elected to the post and until the so-called Maguindanao massacre in 2009.
“We had interviewed him several times, before his affidavit was finalized. He is really that credible… He has been in Malacañang many times before,” Brillantes said.
Quoting Unas anew, the Comelec chairman said the former president made a declaration that “ayusin ang resulta (fix the results) in Mindanao.”
“(This) was made in his presence. It was a directed to Ampatuan.”
Brillantes said since Ampatuan was not literate, Unas as his close confidante always accompanied him.
Asked if Ampatuan could be summoned and tapped as witness, Brillantes said Ampatuan could “strengthen the case if he will corroborate Unas’ statement.”
Brillantes, however, doubts if Ampatuan would corroborate Unas’ statement since the former governor is already detained in connection with the Maguindanao massacre case.
Brillantes said the joint Comelec-DOJ investigating panel has to review the statements of former Comelec official Lintang Bedol who had acknowledged that Unas was a “co-conspirator.”
Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong though expressed doubt about the credibility of Unas whose statement contradicts the statements of Bedol.
“Sometime ago when Bedol came out, he made reference to Norie Unas as one of the perpetrators or those giving orders to do some cheating. So I asked whether his affidavit would still be credible in spite of that. And if that really is true, he might be facing some criminal action like the violation of Comelec law,” Datumanong said.
Datumanong said he is banking on the statement of Brillantes that he will need to review Bedol’s statements.
Mr. Arroyo’s lawyer Inocencio Ferrer said Unas has no evidence to support his allegation that the former first couple ordered the manipulation of the 2007 elections to favor candidates of the TU senatorial bets.
In a statement, Ferrer said Unas’ revelation is part of the current administration’s effort to “cut deals with certain parties mentioned in other criminal activities” for the purpose of “politically prosecuting” Arroyo and his family.
Ferrer also said Unas made his revelation after he was implicated in the Maguindanao massacre.
“There is no hard evidence to prove any of the claims of Mr. Norie Unas – just his belated and baseless say-so, now that he has been implicated (based on news reports) in the Maguindanao massacre,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer said that with Unas’ alleged link to the Maguindanao massacre, he has already lost his credibility as a reliable witness.
“DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima and Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes not only have insulted the winning Team Unity senators in the 2007 elections who won on their own individual merits and hard work, but also brought great dishonor and disrespect to the families of the massacre victims,” Ferrer said.
“The lawyers of the victims have repeatedly requested and warned the government not to strike any deals with any person implicated in the Maguindanao massacre,” he added.
Ferrer also lashed out at Brillantes, whom he is accusing of bias against the Arroyo couple.
Ferrer said Brillantes served as counsel for the late Fernando Poe Jr. in his election protest against former President Arroyo in 2004. – With Mike Frialde, Aie Balagtas See