Witness says Comelec forced her to sign affidavit vs GMA

MANILA, Philippines - A prosecution witness yesterday admitted the Commission on Elections (Comelec) forced her and the other election officers to execute new affidavits that would point to alleged tampering of votes in Maguindanao in the 2007 elections.

Jeehan Nur, election officer of Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, admitted during the continuation of the bail hearings at the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) that they were ordered by the Comelec’s law department to execute new sworn statements to support the electoral sabotage case against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former election officer Lintang Bedol.

Nur said they went to Davao City on Feb. 22, 2012 upon orders of the Comelec and met with lawyers led by Juana Maria Valesa, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Nur also admitted that while the affidavit was made out of her own volition, it was Valesa who helped her make a new affidavit to detail the alleged tampering of votes in Maguindanao following the alleged instructions of former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas and Bedol.

Lawyer Reynaldo Princesa, counsel of Bedol, pointed out that eight of the 22 election officers of Maguindanao were gathered in Davao City to execute new but highly identical sworn affidavits in a bid to bolster the case filed against Arroyo and the other accused in the case.

“It appears that the sworn affidavits of the eight election officers are identical,” Princesa told the court.

Princesa said Nur and the other election officers executed their respective first sworn affidavits in September 2011 before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) under the joint Comelec-Department of Justice (DOJ) panel stating their knowledge on the alleged cheating in Maguindanao during the 2007 elections.

However, in the affidavits, Princesa pointed out neither of the election officers mentioned about any tampering of election results in Maguindanao.

Five months later on Feb. 23, 2012, Nur and the other election officers executed another affidavit in which they mentioned alleged tampering of certificates of canvass (COCs) during an “overnight operation” in the Maguindanao Provincial Capitol upon instructions of Unas and Bedol.

Nur said in the supposed overnight operation, she and other election officers in Maguindanao copied the results of the elections in the original COCs and statements of votes (SOVs) to new blank COCs and SOVs supplied by Unas and Bedol on June 15, 2007.

Princesa said Nur and the other election officers added the overnight operation story when Comelec told them that Bedol was poised to file electoral sabotage charges against them.

Nur replied that Valesa had indeed shown them a copy of the sworn affidavit of Bedol where he was, in effect, blaming the election officers and claiming he was not there during the incident.

It was also established that prior to executing her new affidavit, Nur was recommended by the Comelec fact-finding committee to be administratively charged for her participation in the irregularities in the 2007 elections.

When asked during cross examination if she still expected to be administratively charged after her execution of a new affidavit and her testimony in the case, Nur replied “No.”

Defense lawyers accused the Comelec of engaging in “curative” methods by introducing new evidence that they said are not part of the information.

The defense maintained that the electoral sabotage case against Arroyo and her co-accused is weak because it was based solely on the sworn affidavit of Unas, who was a trusted aide of Ampatuan.

Arroyo’s counsel Ray Santos said the Comelec appears “to be engaging in curative modes just so they could rehabilitate the weak case they filed against the former president.”

He added this is an indication that the case they filed against her was rushed and not based on real and substantive evidence.

On the other hand, a Comelec official said the poll body will pursue the two counts of electoral sabotage against former provincial poll official Yogi Martirizar in accordance with a resolution rejecting moves to make another accused state witness against former elections chief Benjamin Abalos.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told The STAR after a news forum in Quezon City yesterday that the Comelec was supposed to take up the issue on Martirizar in a recent meeting but it was set aside to discuss the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court against the purchase of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for next year’s automated midterm national polls.

However, the Comelec will not change its earlier position to pursue criminal cases against principal accused in the alleged cheating in the 2007 elections, Jimenez said.

“There is still no official pronouncement but the Commission will issue a minute resolution affirming its stand against (former election supervisor Lilian) Radam and Martirizar during the next en banc meeting on Wednesday,” Jimenez said.

Radam was the former chairman of South Cotabato board of canvassers while Martitizar was the chairman of the North Cotabato provincial board of canvassers.

The two have been placed under the protective custody of the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the witness protection program. They were supposed to be presented in the bail hearings of Abalos, who is facing separate electoral sabotage charges before Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 117 headed by Judge Eugene de la Cruz and RTC Judge Jesus Mupas of RTC 112.

Abalos and Martirizar are facing two counts of electoral sabotage before Judge Mupas while another 11 counts of the same charge against Abalos and Radam are also pending at the sala of Judge De la Cruz.

During a recent bail hearing, government prosecutors declined to comment on a motion filed by Martirizar that she should be discharged as co-accused of Abalos so that she can testify in the bail hearing.

Lead prosecutor Valesa told Mupas that they are still awaiting the resolution of the Comelec on whether Martirizar will be made a state witness against Abalos.

DOJ prosecutors who are assisting the Comelec also said they have no instruction to file a motion to discharge Martirizar.

Nena Santos, legal counsel of Martirizar, filed a motion to discharge because the former election official was already under the government’s witness protection program.

But lawyers of Abalos opposed the move, saying that any motion to discharge an accused must be filed by the prosecution, not the accused herself.