Abalos co-accused disqualified self as state witness - defense lawyer

Manila, Philippines -  A defense lawyer said yesterday that a prosecution witness in the electoral sabotage case of former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos has practically disqualified herself after admitting in court that she did not conspire with the accused to insure a 12-0 victory for the former administration’s Team Unity senatorial candidates in the 2007 midterm election.

Defense lawyer Abraham Espejo said former North Cotabato election officer Yogie Martirizar impeached herself during Wednesday’s cross examination on the hearing for bail before Judge Jesus Mupas of the Pasay Regional Trial Court (RTC) 112 when she denied conspiring with Abalos to commit the election offense.

“I believed that she demolished herself as state witness when she admitted that her testimony will be used by the prosecutors to probe allegation of conspiracy to commit electoral sabotage, as stated in the information, but denied she was part of the conspiracy,” Espejo said.

He said Martirizar’s credibility was damaged when she testified that she did not alter and falsify the questioned election returns.

He said the recantation of the witness will make it hard for the prosecution to prove that there was indeed conspiracy to tamper the election results.

“Martirizar also claimed that she was being harassed by a certain Capt. Peter Reyes of the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) from 2004 to 2007 to do things against her will but admitted receiving P2-million financial assistance from ISAFP,” Espejo said.

Capt. Reyes, who has reportedly gone into hiding, was among the respondents in the electoral sabotage case.

Abalos, who was allowed by Judge Mupas to argue on his petition for bail, claimed that Martirizar acted on her own and was actually the subject of an investigation by the Comelec, which he then headed.

He said he discovered discrepancies in the votes of the senatorial candidates in the province.

Martirizar admitted during Espejo’s re-cross examination that she continued to received money from the ISAFP until June 2011, even after the electoral sabotage charges were already filed against another election officer, Lilian Radam, at the Pasay City RTC branch 114.

She said despite the filing of two counts of electoral sabotage case against Capt. Reyes by the ISAFP in December, the military did not initiate court martial proceeding against other officers allegedly involved in the 2007 election fraud in North Cotabato.

Martirizar also admitted that she was never invited by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to shed light on the alleged involvement of military men in the tampering of election documents.

Abalos has repeatedly insisted that Martirizar, who was admitted into the government’s witness protection program, is not qualified because she is the most guilty among the accused.

He said the former Comelec officer went into hiding and surfaced October last year to implicate him, which became the basis of the two counts of electoral sabotage filed by the Comelec against him, the witness and Reyes.

Martirizar’s lawyer Nena Santos and the Department of Justice has filed a motion to discharge her as accused but the defense strongly opposed the move.

The prosecution has used her alleged admission to oppose the motion for bail on the grounds that they had a strong case against him.