NBI agents arrest 2 PCOS ‘manipulators’

MANILA, Philippines - Two men who passed themselves off as representatives of Smartmatic International Corp. were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) the other day for trying to swindle a mayoral candidate into paying them for rigging election results.

NBI Director Nonnatus Caesar Rojas said the suspects, Hadjie Omar Radango Masiding and Sultan Pundatoon Bagul, both from Lanao del Sur, were arrested following the complaint of Abdulsalam Hadji Harun, candidate for mayor of Simunul town in Tawi-Tawi.

The two suspects were arrested during an entrapment operation at the Century Park Hotel in Manila last Monday.

The NBI said the two suspects introduced themselves as engineers of Smartmatic and tried to convince Harun that they could manipulate the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to make him win in exchange for P5 million.

Smartmatic is the sole provider of the PCOS machines to be used for the May 13 elections.

The two suspects allegedly demanded an initial down payment of P2.5 million and the balance to be paid after Harun is proclaimed winner.

When Harun told them that he had no available cash of P2.5 million, Masiding instead demanded P100,000 as payment “for the boys” to work on programming his name into the PCOS machine.

Harun then reported the offer to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which in turn referred him to NBI’s Counter Terrorism Division, which set the entrapment operation for the arrest of the suspects.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes provided his personal money of P100,000 to be used as the supposed down payment. The bills were marked and initialed.

“We have the feeling that these swindlers were really roaming around small municipalities because this is where the candidates are not that aware and they can easily be swindled,” Brillantes said.

As arranged, Harun placed the money inside a brown envelope and proceeded to the hotel’s coffee shop, the venue of the payoff.

NBI agents who were positioned nearby immediately arrested the two suspects after they received the envelope containing the money.

The NBI said the two suspects would be charged with estafa and usurpation of authority before the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office.

Brillantes warned candidates against falling prey to people who claim that they could ensure their victories by manipulating the PCOS machines.

“In the first place, the PCOS machines cannot be manipulated. Therefore anybody who misrepresent that they can manipulate the PCOS machines one way or the other are just swindlers,” Brillantes said.