ONE hundred thirteen years ago today, a great tragedy befell the Pearl of the Orient Seas. In a mountain of Maragondon, Cavite province, Andres Bonifacio, the founder and Supremo of the Philippine revolutionary movement was executed following a Kangaroo Court military trial by the camp of Emilio Aguinaldo, the man who deposed him by way of an anomalous "national elections." This virtual murder of a man who wielded the revolutionary fire of courage and the great vision of an archipelagic nation free and liberated from the yoke of colonial rule was so tragic it initially "smothered the enthusiasm for the revolutionary cause" of many non-Caviteno revolutionaries such that Aguinaldo's "so-called government had to withdraw to the mountains of Biak-na-Bato in Bulacan."
The Supremo's death represented the tragedy of the Philippine Revolution having been wrestled away from its mass base towards a direction marked by capitulation to foreign rule and dominated by elite interest. Today, May 10, 2010, the country faced an electoral exercise that, from many indicators, pits the masses and the elites. On the occasion of Bonifacio's unjust death, will the presidential race apparently dominated by former President Joseph Estrada and Noynoy Aquino be won by the yellow camp and continue what has been the general tradition of elite rule? Or will the occasion of the Supremo's death finally mark the sweet victory for the Filipino masses when the "Father of the Masses," Joseph Estrada is elected anew nine years after being deposed by a conspiracy of the elite class?
Masses vs. Elites
The turn of developments in the 2010 presidential campaign have virtually crystallized the race into a strongly class-based fight. Of the top two contenders, Erap Estrada strongly draws from those from the D-E crowd while Noynoy Aquino appeals strongest to the A-B people. Gilbert Teodoro and Manny Villar are considered to be in the top 4, and shares voting base with Aquino and Estrada, respectively. However, the recent slide of Villar to No. 3 based on mainstream surveys and Teodoro's low and/or erratic standing in pre-electoral survey voting preferences have rendered the presidential derby considerably a two-way fight between Aquino and Estrada.
Aquino Elite's Choice
Aquino is unabashedly the elite's candidate. Anyone who frequents the streets know the yellow display of support in majority of vehicles of the rich--expensive cars and SUVs. No less than 10 brand products support Aquino's candidacy with yellow ribbons stamped on the products or packaging or by selling yellow "commemorative" products--Bench, ODM, Boardwalk, Philip Stein, National Book Store, Mag Net, My Phone, Mongol-Star Paper Corporation, Goldilocks.
More important than these companies are Ayala Corporation, Gateway Mall/Araneta Center ABS-CBN, and Philippine Daily Inquirer which are all-out for the yellow candidate. Most artists of ABS-CBN, and even of GMA-7, also endorse Noynoy. Aside from Kris Aquino's presence, many well-known actors, actresses and singers grace the Liberal Party's sorties and rallies.
That Aquino is the rich Filipino's choice is also seen in his many political advertisements. In fact, there were even reports that the LP standard-bearer exceeded his personal Comelec time in broadcast ads. During the last few days of the campaign, I was witness to how Noynoy's camp peppered the airwaves, with 7 or more LP ads showing in just one commercial break. This went on during a primetime program repeatedly, enough to make me flare up and turn off the television.
Erap's the Poor's Choice
In contrast, very few celebrities endorse Estrada. Comedienne Marissa Sanchez and a less known Inday Garutay are virtually the only known regular in Estrada's campaign rallies. In the miting de avances of Erap's Partido ng Masang Pilipino, only another comedienne Bayani Agabayani and a few others added to the list. No question about it, Estrada's camp was devoid of superstar endorsement.
In one of the campaign sorties I attended, what I saw with my very own eyes was masa power at work--even in terms of entertainment. While waiting for the senatorial candidates and Estrada and Binay, entertainment came by way of cheap make-do singing, dance, and jokes. It actually struck me as ironic how an actor-politician belittled for his being a "mere actor" has very nil showbiz support.
In the sticker wars, as Noynoy has expensive vehicles, Erap has passenger jeepneys, tricycles, and ‘padyaks’ (pedicabs). The poor character of Estrada's campaign, of course, betrays the lack of support from the business community. Erap was apparently never once reported to have exceeded Comelec air time limits for political ads. Even during the final run to the campaign, his camp still released few political ads.
Conclusion
That Noynoy has abundant political ads, of course, reflects business support for his campaign. If he wins, then that only means that the Filipino people got swayed by the business-backed campaign of the politician who took part and remain proud of his role in the elitist, EDSA II of January 2001.
Since the forces of EDSA II deposed Estrada and even acted to squash what should have the corrective Masa-powered EDSA III of May 2001, then a Noynoy win means that the people have embraced elite rule. On the other hand, an Erap victory clearly shows that the Filipino clearly reject elite rule and assert populist leadership by way of reelecting a man overwhelmingly voted by the masa and deposed (and incarcerated) by an elite conspiracy.
Will the 113th anniversary of the tragic death of Gat Andres Bonifacio reflect the tragedy of the masa decapitation during the Philippine Revolution, or will it spell the rising of the Great Plebeian's mass-based libertarian, nationalist and mass-based aspirations? Will the 15th President be the "Father of the Masses," Joseph Erap Estrada, or the 'hacendero son of the hero Ninoy Aquino and saintly Cory Aquino'? We will soon find out.
The ghost of Fernando Poe Jr., or FPJ for short, was reportedly seen by his grave at the Manila North Cemetery on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. The 'apparition' witness asks why FPJ chose to show himself to her. The incident seems to be the first time the man deprived of the 2004 presidential victory "Hello Garci" style made himself visible by his tomb. Could it be that because we are only months away from another opportunity of presidential reckoning, FPJ wants the people to remember? Is Poe Jr., called by many as the genuine 14th President of the Philippines, asking the Filipinos not to vote for all those who conspired to cheat him, hid the real numbers and installed instead the "Hello Garci " perpetrator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Is FPJ asking the people not to vote the parties that operated at either the military/Comelec or congressional canvassing level--Lakas-Kampi and the Liberal Party (LP)?
Whether or not the apparition is genuine, or that the "ghost" is really that of FPJ or, for that matter, whether ghosts or spirits of dead people are real, Filipinos should well learn from the lessons of the 2004 presidential elections and proclamation fraud. If the people of the Southeast Asian islands with a blatantly colonial name, i.e., the Philippines, are to emerge not necessarily as one and united, but even just as a race dignified by basic morals of fairness and electoral honesty, they would need to learn from its recent electoral history.
As seen in the GMA-7's "24 Oras" news video footage, an apparition or figure of sorts that looked , moved and dressed like FPJ seemed to have left or passed through the late actor's image on the hanged tarpaulin poster hanging by the wall of his tomb. The incident was captured by the cellphone camera of a woman who visited Poe's tomb. A computer video expert concluded that the footage was either genuine or made by a very technologically sophisticated hoaxer.
Why FPJ could warn us of Lakas-Kampi is obvious. The coalition party is, of course, the party of Arroyo--the machinery that has assured legislative conformity with her unpatriotic agenda and, perhaps more importantly, has primarily squashed all the impeachment attempts against her. Why FPJ would warn the Filipinos about the Liberal Party may not seem so obvious but it probably has all to do with how he got cheated in 2004.
The LP, along with Lakas-Kampi, is thought to be responsible for the congressional dimension of the 2004 presidential poll fraud and cover-up. Making an apparition capturable by a phone camera is possibly FPJ's way of reminding of the electoral injustice done to him and the people. 'Don't vote Lakas-Kampi or LP come May 2010,' could be the message of the ghost of the man cheated of presidential victory "Hello Garci" style.
Of course, one could claim that FPJ is playing partisan politics, and probably wants his followers to give him posthomous justice by voting for Chiz Escudero, the "batang trapo" (says the democratically uncivil "civil society) who took the cudgel of being his spokesperson during the 2004 presidential polls. Then again, Poe Jr. could be campaigning for his friend, former President Joseph Estrada who was, in the first place, responsible for convincing him to run against Arroyo in 2004. These two speculations, of course, are hinged on whether the apparition is genuine and/or whether spirits are real.
Liberal Party Record
Skeptics will definitely not buy the message-of-FPJ-ghost theory. One does not need to believe in apparitions to see that the Liberal Party does not really stand for genuine change, however. The party and its stalwarts ex-Sen. Jovito Salonga and now-presidential contender Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III have a recent history of disrespect for the Constitution and simply being tolerant, if not actually engaging in immoral or unethical politics.
In Oplan Excelsis/EDSA 2 Coup
First, these party big-names helped installed the Illegitimate, later surveyed to be the "Most Corrupt President in Philippine History." During the height of the anti-Estrada movement back in 2000-2001, Salonga was, of course in the forefront of those wanting Erap to resign or be impeached. Noynoy Aquino was then a Congressman for Tarlac. As recounted by The Daily Tribune's Ninez Cacho-Olivares, the only son of the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino and ex-President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, was among those who hailed the move of then-Speaker Manuel "Manny" Villar to transmit the impeachment complaint to the Senate-even without the benefit of plenary vote.
When things didn't work out to their liking during the Senate impeachment hearings, the LP members joined those who walked out and amassed in EDSA 2 to oust Estrada. Of course, the 2001 coup was "legitimized" by the Davide court's ruling that Joseph Estrada did "constructive resignation" even in the absence of a resignation letter or actual physical incapacity. Still, that novel , never-before-heard SC decision won't take away the fact that it was a coup, the fruition of Plan B of the Oplan Excelsis revealed in October 2000 by The Daily Tribune, which was, in turn, predated by a series of Manila Standard articles on anti-Estrada destabilization efforts during the early part of the same year.
LP's Role in 2004 Poll Cheating/Cover-up
Next, their disloyalty to the Constitution by way of the penchant for going against the people's will was manifested anew during the 2004 elections. Not only did Salonga, et al. avidly campaign for Arroyo but worse, they took part in what the "Hello Garci" tapes would later reveal to be a fraudulent proclamation of the "President-elect."
As described by Daily Tribune's Demaree Raval, this was accomplished when "the leaders of the LP railroaded the national [congressional] canvass." The LP was "in the thick of the cheating" as its leaders simply noted the objections while members of Fernando Poe's camp "were crying themselves hoarse against the fraud" during the congressional canvassing. It should be recalled that LP Sen. Francisco "Kiko" Pangilinan was the chairman of the Joint Congressional Canvassing Committee.
The opposition camp was trying to present evidence of electoral fraud before the committee but they were basically not allowed to. The lawyers, and congressional supporters of FPJ and running mate Loren Legarda were blocked from having select ballot boxes containing contested certificates of canvass or COCs opened. During the canvassing, Pangilinan earned the moniker of "Sen. Noted" because he struck down all objections and arguments to prove electoral fraud by his frequent utterances of the now-infamous word "Noted."
Raval also writes that opposition solons and lawyers were prevented by LP members from even speaking or presenting "the election returns to prove the lie of the manufactured certificates of canvass." He must be referring to the likes of Cong. Butch Abad, LP representative from Batanes, who silenced the voice of those who justly wanted Congress to look into the evidence of presidential poll fraud. Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III, then an LP congressman from Tarlac, might not have actively taken part in railroading the canvass but as journalist Ninez Cacho-Olivares notes, "kept his mouth shut even in the face of massive electoral cheating."
For the flimsy excuse that it would take a long time to study the questioned COCs, the country was deprived of knowing who really won in the 2004 presidential polls. Subsequently, Liberal Party solons led by Senate President Franklin Drilon and Pangilinan, along with other congressional cheats, sealed the canvassing charade when they surreptitiously proclaimed Gloria as the "President-elect" during the wee hours of the June 24, 2004. A break-of-dawn congressional proclamation (earlier, actually: 3:38 am) was unprecedented but it succeeded in preempting any protest or opposition action that could have derailed Arroyo's "proclamation."
In the 2004 deprivation of the Filipinos' right to clean and honest polls, the LP played a crucial role. Arroyo, and players like LP members, thought they got away with the great crime that the "Hello, Garci" expose would later unravel.
Telling "Hello Garci' Tapes
The wiretapped evidence of 2004 electoral fraud (OK, alleged) was first exposed in mid-2005. Former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong later would soon present the master tapes. The wiretapped records that have come to be known as the "Hello Garci" tapes primarily show the conversations between Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and elections commissioner Virgilio "Garci" Garcillano in connection with operations surrounding the May 11 elections and vote canvassing. The operations revealed by the tapes were designed to cheat Arroyo's way towards her continued hold on power and rob FPJ of electoral victory.
The more telling of the tapes shows a woman believed to be Arroyo asking "Garci" to ensure for her a 1 million lead over FPJ. In another dated May 26, 2004, Arroyo informs Garci that she has "allies" in the Senate, which could allow them to delay "the senatorial canvassing until after the voting on the rules" that night.
Actually, even prior to May 2004, the LP seemed to have already taken the resolve to ensure the victory of Arroyo by hook or by crook. Raval writes on the role of the LP in trying to disqualify FPJ from the 2004 presidential elections:
"Even before the elections, the senators belonging to the LP prevented the report of the Angara Committee establishing the Manapat forgeries on the birth certificate of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. and the marriage certificate of FPJ's parents."
Raval tags the LP members responsible for the 2004 proclamation of Arroyo as perhaps the country's "worst politicians," having gone "to bed with her, who prostituted themselves for political patronage, who enjoyed the power that went with being with the lying and the cheating and the stealing, then all too suddenly turned against Gloria" when the "Hello Garci" tapes were exposed.
What the Daily Tribune columnist is basically saying is the LP members who took part in the 2004 electoral fraud are immoral political chameleons who could change color as readily as they cried "Garci!" Obviously, why the LP leaders broke off with Gloria in 2005 was the opportunity to make the people falsely believe that they took no part in cheating FPJ in favor of Arroyo.
On July 8, 2005, practically as soon as the "Hello Garci" expose hugged the headlines, Cory called for a news conference where she asked Arroyo to resign. For a time, she continued her demand for the illegitimate's resignation, with her son Noynoy joining in as a good chunk of LP members bolted out of the alliance with Gloria.
This makes one wonder, however, whether the reason why Salonga, et al joined in the "Hello Garci" condemnation was only to make it falsely appear to the late former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino that during the whole time that they went through the motions of canvassing and proclamation, they were totally unaware of Arroyo's cheating? One could even ask whether the LP did it only so that Noynoy would not be chastised by his mother for doing nothing while FPJ was cheated in the canvassing? Either one of these or Cory herself was part of, or aware of, the 2004 poll fraud and cover-up--something rather unlikely.
"Dadayain"
As early as around April 2004, this column was already aware that poll fraud will be done to ensure Gloria Arroyo's presidential victory. A person rather close to me, and within the vicinity of power no matter how low-key s/he may be, confided that "dadayain" the presidential elections. I remember him/her adding something like "I hope the country can weather the storm that is sure to come."
Salonga and this person share a rather influential organization, one breeding ground of the influential (clue: University of the Philippines). If this resource person of mine was aware of the operation to doctor the 2004 presidential elections, so were Sen. Salonga and, it should logically follow, the rest of Liberal Party biggies.
My resource person did not actually name Salonga or the Liberal Party as parties to the poll fraud plan. Neither did I ask him/her who exactly were involved because I couldn't accept his/her revelations to be true (s/he also vaguely talked of the advanced parties from Gloria's camp as distributing goodies in areas where poll-related surveys were scheduled to be held). I guess I couldn't believe that "good people" in the government would allow something as blatantly immoral as cheating to happen. Suffice it to say, however, that putting the two and two of "Hello Garci," Sen. "Noted," and my resource person's political/organizational ties and revelations together, a not unclear role of the LP in the 2004 presidential poll fraud emerges.
FPJ Ghost or no FPJ Ghost
Whether or not the FPJ cemetery ghost story is real, the Filipino people need to be wary of the Liberal Party of today, nay, punish the party by not voting their bets. By the way, Kris Aquino reportedly is being visited by the spirit of her mom. The late Cory Aquino, it should be recalled, apologized to former President Estrada for part in the "2001 uprising." Noynoy apparently tried to save face for the Liberal Party by claiming that the apology was a joke but the only compromise he was ultimately able to wrangle from his mom was the statement that it was indeed "said in jest but she's not taking it back."
It seems fairly obvious to anyone sober enough not to be taken by the lies of EDSA 2 that Noynoy Aquino's association with LP make him a 'bad trapo'? Is it possible that Cory's ghost is telling the same message--Noynoy be wary of, rather, get out from, the seemingly politically prostituted party that is LP!?
Note: One of my parents was an avid LP supporter. I don't exactly feel good because I never thought I'll be writing something like this about the party to which Diosdado Macapagal and Ninoy Aquino belonged. Change for the moral good, genuine good change, is what our country needs, however. Besides, isn't the need to ensure "clean and honest elections" one of the chief lessons the Philippines is supposed to have learned from the Marcos experience (when even the bird, bees and the dead supposedly voted in 1969, ultimately allowing Apo Ferdie's 1972 declaration of Martial Law)?
Sen. Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III is supposedly in Davao for a spiritual retreat, trying to seek "divine guidance" as to whether he should run for president in 2010. I hope that when he emerges on Monday, he would have already communed with and, thereby, been enlightened by the spirits of his father and mother. It is my ardent hope that by the end of his retreat, he would come to the right decision and continue the path of his mortal but noble parents--allow himself to be driven purely by the vision of a truly democratic Philippines, abandon partisan and elitist politics and announce to the Filipinos that he will unify the opposition by dropping his newfound presidential ambitions. He would then ask his supporters to respect the wisdom of his decision and explain that his running will only further divide the country because the obtaining conditions were unlike those in 1985 and 1986.
It is true, of course, that Noynoy's mother, former President Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino, ran for the top elective post in 1986 and in a way, therefore, materialized in her person the old presidential ambitions of Ninoy. However, as practically everyone recognizes so, Cory was a reluctant presidential bet who only agreed to run in the bid to unite the opposition. The unity process went like this: following President Marcos' call for snap elections "in answer to [the opposition's] request," one million signatures petitioning for Cory's candidacy were presented her; the opposition then slowly united behind Ninoy's widow; while it took some time, her husband's friend and top presidential contender of the mainstream opposition, former Sen. Salvador "Doy" Laurel of the UNIDO party was eventually convinced to slide down as Cory's vice-presidential running mate amidst public clamor to ensure an opposition victory.
If Noynoy were any bit serious in truly carrying out the patriotic mission of his parents in ensuring that democracy lives on, he'll see that the present conditions do not warrant his bid for the presidency, at least not yet in 2010. For one, the incumbent "President" Gloria Arroyo is constitutionally barred from running for the presidency. This means that unless charter change efforts by the administration succeed, there really is no strongman or strongwoman that the opposition will face. Secondly, there appears to be no replication of the 1 M signatures happening (which today should really be around 1.8 or 2M to compensate for the country's population increase).
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, there are so many presidential wannabe's from the opposition and they are generally not inclined to give way to him. Just about those who have signified the intention to shelve their own presidential ambitions for any "unity" bet are his own partymates or ex-partymates: Mar Roxas, who probably has been under pressure from ex. Sen. Jovito Salonga, and Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who is only eyeing the VP slot anyhow. Gov. Panlilio has reportedly already gave way but all other top opposition contenders based on survey showings are not: Villar, Escudero, Legarda and even ex-President Joseph Estrada.
Should Noynoy Listen to Lacson and Pangilinan?
Noynoy should also question the "moral quality" of the politicians urging him to run if he really wants to be rightly guided in his decision. Sen. Panfilo Lacson is also throwing his support behind Noynoy and has even urged Estrada to do the same but the thing is that he's not even a presidential contender. Moreover, Lacson is known not only for abandoning his Jose Pidal expose but worse, also has the track record of splitting the opposition back in 2004. Had he agreed to play second fiddle to Fernando Poe Jr., Arroyo would have been long out of Malacanang and the governance problems of this country not allowed to balloon to debacle levels.
Pangilinan is another figure Noynoy should not easily heed and, instead, question for his political morality. In throwing support for Sen. Aquino, the husband of mega-actress Sharon Cuneta claimed in an interview that the only reason he wanted to run for VP was because he hoped to introduce an alternative government program. What moral right does Pangilinan have to claim he stands for reform and tell the Filipinos to support Noynoy when he is a suspect insofar as disrespect of the constitution and the people's vote is concerned. Who could really forget his role as Sen. "Noted" during the canvassing of votes for the disputed 2004 elections? Being the chairman of the Joint Congressional Canvassing body, he certainly played a notable role in the failure of Congress to open the contested provincial COCs and provide the Philippines the real victor in the presidential elections, a year before the "Hello Garci" wiretapping expose. Perhaps, his "Noted" role even gives every genuine believer in the workings of democracy the right to suspect him as one of Arroyo's minions in Congress who were tasked to delay “the senatorial canvassing until after the voting on the rules“, as revealed by the 11:25, 26 May 2004 recording in the ‘Hello Garci’ tapes.
Gov. Panlilio, on the other, does speak from a moral high ground and Noynoy can perhaps listen to him. However, it is also a fact that the governor priest is considered a minor presidential contender with negligible base of support.
If the conditions that paved the way for Cory's presidential bid in 1986 were to form the basis of Sen. Aquino's decision for 2010, the unijo hijo of Ninoy should find no reason to jump into the coming presidential race. The best possible but rather remote scenario that those pushing him to run can hope for are that the three factors be replicated today in a sort of reversed order--Noynoy announces his bid, the 1 or 2 million signatures are presented to him, and all the presidential wannabe's from the opposition support him. If that happens, that would be called baiting for it; otherwise, Noynoy will only further split the opposition.
Beware What the People Really Want
Misreading of what the general public--not just a limited strata of the entire population--wants could only work against the interest and genuine advancement of the nation, and could even alienate and trample on the will of the masses. I remember that following the EDSA 2 disguised coup, I started avoiding broadcast commemorative features or documentaries of the 1986 EDSA as well as tarmac scenes of Ninoy's assassination. In fact, I even went as far as dismissing those historic scenes as events come to naught due to the EDSA 2's sacrilege of the genuine spirit of "People Power" and the destruction of the very Constitution the original EDSA brought forth. Her own mother seemed to share my cerebral processing of the pretender "People Power,” as proved no less by Cory's December 2008 apology to Erap over being "guilty to the 2001 uprising" (Amidst news na nagkasagutan sila, the spokeswoman 'clarified' that the apology was said in "jest" but later stressed that the former President is "not taking it back.")
Unless "Tita Cory" herself, before she died, was able to give even just a hint that he should seek the presidency in 2010 in order to "unite the opposition" or forge a stronger front against the totally wicked governance of the EDSA 2 "President" whose para-constitutional installation they both were themselves were party to, then Noynoy better just go the way of his noble parents. In 1992, following her task of restoring the institutions of democracy, Cory did the way of her hero husband and refused the temptation of taking another shot at the presidency. She remained vigilant in guarding the newfound democracy, figuring in the anti-Cha-Cha rallies during Ramos' time. The late former President made the "mistake" of calling for Erap's ouster in 2001, but before her death, managed to make peace with the masses of EDSA 3. This helped renew what she had long lost, the "Cory magic," to resurface in the show of ardent support and militancy during her funeral.
Ninoy, the patriarch of this seeming family of patriots, showed his great love for the country by turning his back on elite politics, his Liberal Party, and his presidential ambitions. If Sen. Noynoy truly wants to offer his life to serve the Philippines, it would be wise for him to follow the examples of his parents while being his own man: rise above partisan politics and forget that he is an LP, listen less to the civil society's views of what democracy and government should be, and listen more to the politically marginalized masses. If he can do that, he'll know whether to run or not in 2010.
WHEN Gloria Macapagal Arroyo [delivered] her eighth State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa session hall [last July 28, 2008], she [stood] close to where, three years ago, police commandos say they replaced genuine election returns (ERs) with fake ones in ballot boxes that were being readied for a recount of the 2004 presidential election.
The ER switching at the Batasan had been talked about and reported on since 2005, when Arroyo apologized to the nation for talking to an election official while the votes were being counted, in what has since been known as the "Hello, Garci" scandal.
Recently, some of those who took part in that clandestine operation have sought legal refuge, executing affidavits and taped testimonies of their involvement. Others told friends in confidence, while a few boasted about it in drinking sessions.
They said they switched the ERs of several provinces on three occasions to reconcile these with the figures in the certificates of canvass (COCs) and statements of votes (SOVs) that were tampered with in the 2004 elections.
The stories told by some of the participants and their confidants in the Batasan operation constitute what could be grounds for another impeachment case against Arroyo.
They revive allegations that not only did the President cheat in the 2004 elections, but also tried to cover her tracks by switching the ERs that would have been scrutinized in 2005. At that time, the presidential electoral protest filed by Arroyo's opponent, Fernando Poe Jr., was still pending. Poe died of a heart attack in December 2004, but his widow, Susan Roces, pursued the protest.
Orders came from Ebdane and Franco
Among those who took part in the Batasan operation were members of the Special Action Force (SAF), an elite combat unit of the Philippine National Police
Some of them said they got their orders from Gen. Marcelino Franco, then commanding officer of the SAF. Both Franco and the then chief of the SAF Intelligence and Investigation Division, Supt. Rafael Santiago, were present at a briefing on the operation, SAF sources said.
The SAF sources refused to be named for fear of their safety and those of their families.
"Basta ang initial info po sa amin ay legal operation po ito pero hindi pa namin alam ang nature ng operation (The initial info we got was that it was a legal operation, but we didn't know the nature of the operation)," a SAF commando said. Franco, in turn, got his orders from the former PNP chief, Brig Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., a trusted adviser of Arroyo, SAF sources said.
Ebdane had denied the allegations in previous reports. VERA Files tried getting his side of the story but has not received a reply.
Franco, who has since retired from the PNP and is assistant vice president of Security Bank, also declined to comment on his role in the ER switching operation. Santiago, now senior superintendent and head of the Northern Police District's Intelligence and Investigation Division, ignored requests for an interview.
How the switching happened
SAF sources said the first ER switching operation took place around midnight of Jan. 23, 2005, a Sunday.
Here's what happened based on interviews, taped testimonies, and documents obtained by VERA Files.
A van and three other vehicles arrived at the South Wing entrance of the Batasan complex. Two dozen people alighted from the vehicles, five of them non-commissioned officers, the rest civilians. Santiago was the team leader.
At that time, a makeshift storage room had been erected at the South Wing lobby for ballot boxes containing the returns of the 2004 elections. The boxes had been brought there for the national canvassing.
The go signal came from SAF officers, among them Inspectors Rafael Lero and Samson Kimayong. While some stood guard, others unloaded from the van some 20 to 30 cigarette cartons containing documents.
As a lock picker opened the ballot boxes, SAF commandos said, the others took out the contents of the ballot boxes and replaced them with the documents they brought with them.
After three hours, they packed up, loaded what they took from the ballot boxes into their vehicles and proceeded to the residence of election lawyer Roque Bello in Brookside Hills, Cainta, Rizal.
The operation was repeated six days later on Jan. 29 and on the first weekend of February.
Chief Inspector Ferdinand Ortega, chief of the SAF contingent assigned at the Batasan, was present in all three operations.
Today, Lero and Kimayong have been promoted to senior inspectors and are also assigned at the NPD.
Ortega became commandant of the SAF Training School in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, right after the Batasan operation. Now a superintendent, he heads the SAF operations office in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig.
Ortega and Lero likewise ignored VERA Files' requests for an interview. Contacted by phone, Kimayong denied any knowledge of the 2005 operation.
Returns fabricated by election lawyer Bello
What the SAF brought to the Batasan South Wing were fake election returns allegedly fabricated under the supervision of Bello. They stuffed these into the ballot boxes after they took out the genuine election returns, which they took to Bello's place.
Contacted for his side, Bello said he had already denied involvement in the operation way back in March 2006 when pictures of the alleged manufacturing of ERs in his house appeared in Malaya and Newsbreak. "It's not true," he reiterated his denial.
Two weeks weeks before the Batasan ER switching operation, Poe's widow, Susan Roces, had petitioned the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to replace her husband in the electoral protest he had initiated.
Poe's running mate, Loren Legarda, had filed a similar protest, questioning the proclamation of her rival Noli de Castro and citing irregularities in the canvassing of votes in a number of provinces, many of them in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
Both Arroyo and De Castro had been proclaimed president and vice president after an administration-dominated Congress acting as National Board of Canvassers declared Arroyo the winner with 12,905,808 votes against closest rival Poe who got 11,782,232 votes. De Castro garnered 15,100,431 votes against Legarda's 14,218,709.
The minority members of the Joint Committee of Congress did not sign the NBC's final report and instead issued "The True Report," which was their own version of the results of the 2004 elections that showed Poe winning over Arroyo by 511,981 votes and Legarda over De Castro by 702,311 votes.
Citing several cases of manufactured election returns, tampered statement of votes and certificates of votes, the minority challenged the joint committee and Congress "to show that the numbers on those questioned certificates of canvass match their corresponding statements of votes and election returns."
"The truth is in those election returns," the minority said.
ERs are documents prepared by boards of election inspectors at the precinct level.
For president and vice president, the ERs are sent to the provincial and city boards of canvassers who then prepare certificates of canvass (COC) supported by statements of votes (SOV). The votes garnered by the candidates in the ER, SOV and COC are supposed to match.
'Hello, Garci'
This, in fact, seemed to be a concern uppermost in Arroyo's mind shortly after the 2004 elections. A portion of the "Hello, Garci" tapes records her voicing her worry to then Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
Following are excerpts from a late evening conversation between Arroyo and Garcillano on June 2, 2004:
GMA: Hello. Dun sa Lanao del Sur tsaka sa Basilan, di raw nagma-match ang SOV sa COC?
Garcillano: Hindi nagma-match? May posibilidad na hindi mag-match kung hindi nila sinunod 'yung individual SOV ng mga munisipyo...
GMA: So, nagma-match?
Garcillano: Oho. Sa Basilan, alam nyo naman ang mga military dun eh, hindi masyadong marunong kasi silang gumawa eh. Katulad ho dun sa Sulu sina General Habacon.
During the congressional canvassing, minority members called the NBC's attention to the disparity in figures reflected in the COCs, which was the basis of the proclamation, and in their copies of SOVs and ERs.
The then presiding officers, Sen. Francis Pangilinan and then Rep. Raul Gonzalez, now justice secretary, brushed aside the minority's concern, and merely responded by saying, "Noted."
Rasalan: Money to tamper returns came from Arroyo
In July 2006, Artemio Rasalan, a self-confessed election operator, executed an affidavit and videotaped confession of his role in what he described as a "grand clandestine operation to head off a looming crisis."
This crisis was expected to erupt once the PET discovered the tampered ERs and the unmatching SOVs and COCs.
Rasalan said Bello had asked him sometime in July 2004 to undertake an operation that would "produce at least 10,000 new election returns duly accompanied by the appropriate Comelec envelopes: officially numbered envelope seals and the official Comelec inks for thumb marking."
He identified nine provinces the ERs of which had to be replaced. These are Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat and Saranggani in Mindanao and Isabela in Luzon.
Rasalan quoted the election lawyer as saying that it was Ebdane who engaged Bello's services on orders of Arroyo. Two months later, Rasalan said, Roque told him he was coordinating closely with Garcillano.
"He (Roque) said the money for this special operation will be provided by PGMA [Arroyo's initials]. As a matter of fact, a few days thereafter, I was told by Attorney Bello that Commissioner Garcillano met with PGMA at her La Vista home to receive the money," Rasalan said.
They started making the fake ERs in mid-October 2004, Rasalan stated. It took them two months to finish the work. He then delivered the 10,000 fabricated ERs to Bello's home in Brookside Hills Subdivision, Cainta, Rizal for the printing of the correct original serial numbers.
With the 10,000 fake ERs ready, the last step was to put them inside the ballot boxes guarded by the SAF at the Batasan building so that when the PET started opening the ballot boxes, the figures there would match those in the tampered COCs and SOVs.
Special Action Force of the Philippines
IT WAS NO accident that it was the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police that penetrated the Batasan Pambansa and stuffed the ballot boxes with fake election returns to make it look like Gloria Arroyo won the 2004 elections.
Established in 1983 initially to help combat insurgency and later to "destroy enemy forces that undermine the nation's stability," the police commandos are trained as a rapid deployment force and to "noiselessly operate in the shadows."
In its 25-year history, the elite unit has not been impervious to the country's political upheavals. The SAF joined the February 1986 people power revolution that followed the defection of its founder, then Armed Forces vice chief of staff and Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police chief Fidel V. Ramos, and toppled President Ferdinand Marcos.
But in early 2005, some of the SAF's own members said they undermined democracy when the unit switched the election returns on orders of former PNP chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.
Ebdane knew fully well and harnessed the unit's commando skills. After all, he had served as SAF commander from August 1989 to February 1991.
It also helped that the SAF was one of the units securing the House.
Had no one talked, the operation that took place on Jan. 23 and 29 and the first weekend of February 2005 would have been SAF's secret.
Franco 'principled,' but 'pragmatic' too
His colleagues describe Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco, who approved the operation as SAF commander at the time, as a "very serious, principled and highly professional" officer. But they also said that as a leader, he can be "very pragmatic."
Franco would later be implicated in the alleged plan of the Marines and Army Scout Rangers in February 2006 to withdraw support from Arroyo.
In his affidavit, former Armed Forces chief Hermogenes Esperon, then the commanding general of the Philippine Army, said that his two classmates in the Philippine Military Academy (Class '74)-Franco and Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, then commandant of the Philippine Marines-had asked him to join them in their plan to withdraw support from Arroyo.
Esperon said this happened in a late-night meeting on Feb. 23 at the residence of then AFP chief Generoso Senga. He said Franco confirmed that "most of the elements of SAF-PNP will sympathize with those who will march and withdraw support from PGMA."
Military officers accused of planning the February 2006 protest activity said Franco knew first-hand that Arroyo cheated in the elections. Unlike those who are detained and being tried in court martial for mutiny, no charges were ever filed against Franco.
SAF sources said prior to the Batasan ER switching operation, Franco met with Ebdane and Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. He then entrusted the task to Supt. Rafael Santiago, the commanding officer of SAF's Intelligence and Investigation Division.
Santiago, in turn, brought in young police officers, including Inspectors Rafael Lero and Samson Kimayong.
Santiago is said to be the quintessential intelligence agent. "Now you see him, now you don't," a police officer said.
Chief Inspector Ferdinand Ortega, who headed the SAF unit in the Batasan during the ER switching operation, appears to be well-liked in police circles. A colleague finds him "nakakatawang mayabang (amusing and a braggart)." He is affectionately called "Bungo" or skull, after the famous Baguio City police officer, Bobby Ortega, who was portrayed in two movies by the late actor Rudy Fernandez.
About 6,000 genuine election returns were replaced with manufactured returns in the January to February 2005 operations, a SAF source said.
A fourth operation was planned, but Chief Inspector Jimmy Laguyo, who by then had replaced Ortega at the SAF's unit at the Batasan, refused to cooperate, the source said. Franco had Laguyo transferred to Abra.
The fourth operation never materialized. The unit was kept preoccupied by a failed jailbreak at the SAF headquarters on March 14, 2005 in which suspected Abu Sayyaf members were killed. The Commission on Human Rights had ordered an investigation of the SAF shortly after the incident.
Reward for Batasan operators
The efforts of the SAF commandos who participated in the Batasan operation did not go unrewarded. The enlisted personnel were each given P10,000 one month after the operation.
"May natanggap kaming sobre na ibinigay sa amin na patago na sabi nila, 'Ito panggastos niyo. Ito 'yung reward natin sa operation natin sa Batasan (We were each secretly handed an envelope and told, 'This is for your expenses; this is our reward for the Batasan operation),'" one of them said.
He added, "Nung binuksan ko po 'yung envelope, naglalaman po ng P10,000. Hindi ko alam kung matuwa ako doon o matakot na gastusi 'yun kasi 'yun nga sa operation na 'yun (When I opened the envelope, it contained P10,000. I didn't know if I should be happy or be afraid to spend it because it was for that operation)."
Another enlisted policeman said they were summoned to the SAF office for the "good news." He said the higher-up who handed them the envelopes advised them, "Huwag na lang kayo maingay. Sa atin-atin lang ito (Don't talk about this. Let's keep this among ourselves)."
'Souvenirs' of election returns switching
The switching of the election returns at the Batasan was caught on video through a mobile phone camera. ABS-CBN had shown the video, but it went largely unnoticed.
But a SAF member who took part in the operation also has in his possession evidence-he calls it "souvenir"- of the operation: copies of the genuine election returns.
He said he removed five envelopes containing the returns from the van he was riding after the team left the Batasan compound in February 2005 and brought them home with him. Some of his colleagues did likewise.
The SAF member said he got curious and decided to inspect the contents of the boxes that had not been sealed with masking tape. "Yun 'yung election returns. Dahil po ako isang botante, alam ko po ang style ng election return (They were election returns. I'm a voter, so I know the style of an election return)," he said.
VERA Files was shown the envelopes containing the returns.
After the recordings of the wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and Garcillano on the cheating in the 2004 elections became public, the police commandos involved in the Batasan operation realized the value of the video and election returns in their hands.
Some of them said they all wanted to make public the evidence they had but feared this would endanger their lives and those of their families. They then thought of relocating abroad but they needed money to do that.
Sen. Loren Legarda, who was then protesting Noli de Castro's proclamation as vice president, said in an interview she met with Joel Pinawin, a first lieutenant in the Army Reserve Corps who acted as liaison for the SAF personnel. She was shown a video of ballot boxes being moved at the Batasan but said the video was rather dark.
"But they were selling it to me," she said.
Legarda does not remember the amount that was asked, but a source close to the SAF personnel said the group had hoped to raise P200 million, or P10 million each for the 20 people involved in the operation.
Said Legarda: "Where will I get the money? Kakatalo ko lang. Dinaya ako, malungkot, walang trabaho. Wala akong pera (I just lost. I was cheated, sad, jobless and penniless). I told them to do it for the country."
Election returns now with Comelec
The tampering and swapping of the election returns became evident when the Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal hearing Legarda's election protest, opened the ballot boxes for Nalindong and Taraka towns in Lanao del Sur.
The copies of the returns that were given to the Commission on Elections, National Citizens Movement for Free Elections and the dominant and minority parties showed opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. and Legarda leading Arroyo and De Castro. But the returns in the ballot boxes retrieved from the Batasan showed the opposite.
Despite the discrepancies, the Supreme Court dismissed last January Legarda's petition, citing insufficient evidence of fraud.
Poe's suit against Arroyo before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) was dismissed on March 29, 2005. The tribunal said his widow, actress Susan Roces, could not replace him as petitioner because "she would not immediately and directly benefit from the outcome should it be determined that the declared president did not truly get the highest number of votes."
The returns from the 2004 elections, including the fabricated ones, are no longer at the House of Representatives. Last February, shortly after he became speaker of the House, Rep. Prospero Nograles ordered the ballot boxes containing the returns moved from the South Wing to the Commission on Elections. The makeshift room where they were once stored has been dismantled.
Last March, former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. called for an investigation of the 2005 switching of election returns at the Batasan.
***Note: All additional photos of Gloria Arroyo, Fernando Poe Jr., Noli de Castro, Loren Legarda, Susan Roces and Virgilio Garcillano have been added by Jesusa Bernardo. Additional ER tampering photos were directly taken from the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism website.
SPECIAL NOTE: When using the CiteMAT citation generator for this reprint article, you need to manually input/replace the author's name as "Ellen Tordesillas".
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is seen by the Filipino masses as a bogus, evil leader who has "stolen the Presidency not once, but twice." The first time has to do with her role in unconstitutionally unseating the majority elected Philippine President Joseph "Erap" Estrada in the 2001 Edsa 2, a power grab disguised as a "People Power" uprising.
The second time Arroyo stole the presidency of the Southeast Asian nation was during the 2004 Presidential elections wherein she was supposed to have beaten opposition standard bearer and Estrada's friend, Fernando Poe Jr. The "victory" that led to the highly irregular earlier than 'break-of-dawn' inauguration of Arroyo was heavily tainted with allegations of systematic cheating that involved the Commissions on Elections, the military, business leaders who headed the NAMFREL "citizen's arm" electoral watchdog and administration Congressmen and Senators who covered up the electoral fraud during the congressional canvassing.
2004 Poll Fraud and 'Hello Garci'
The opposition's charges of poll cheating would be later be backed up by the so-called "Hello Garci" tapes that reveal the wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and an elections commissioner assigned to the contested region of Mindanao. Despite convincing proofs, however, the big businesses, the Catholic Church and the Philippine media helped sustain the cover-up of the fraudulent win of Arroyo in the 2004 polls.
The recent falling out between Gloria Arroyo and a protracted staunch ally, deposed House Speaker Jose de Venecia, over the anomalous NBN-ZTE telecommunications contract could just spell hope for the unraveling of the unholy conspiracy to cheat the Filipinos of their electoral choice for president. De Venecia has recently announced his plan to seek the reopening of the House investigations into the "Hello Garci" electoral controversy. As the Speaker and former Arroyo ally during the periods of the electoral canvassing and during the initial "Hello Garci" tapes investigation, De Venecia could certainly shed light on the mechanics of the conspiracy to rig the 2004 Presidential elections and cover up that trampling of the democratic process.
Hopes to Unravel and Rectify the Presidential Fraud
For seven years, the Philippines has been mired in the evil created by the hypocritical and undemocratic designs of the conspirators who simply preferred Arroyo over the choice of the majority class of society, the masses. It's about time that some truth is unraveled and perhaps, that the 2004 electoral cheating be officially rectified somehow.
"Hello Garci" taped conversation between Gloria Arroyo and COMELEC Dir. Garcillano, at 17:51, June 4, 2004:
Transcript of the conversation between Gary (V. Garcillano) and GMA (Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) on 08 17:51, hotel June ’04
Garcillano: Hello.
GMA: Hello, Garci? Anong gagawin natin dun sa NAMFREL presscon, yung NAMFREL Lanao del Sur.
Garcillano: Ah, inaano ko. Meron na ho akong kopya ng ifinax ni Nobong, yung kay Dalidig. But that is not true because I have already here my staff whom I assigned Lanao Sur. Pagkatapos ho si Rey Sumalipao the supervisor is coming and then we will also try to make him say something after this.
GMA: Uhm-um.
Garcillano: Pagsasalitahin ko sila ho without letting people know that I am the one who will address it ho. Ganun lang po, sige po ma’am.
GMA: Ok, ok
Source: Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
ONE hundred thirteen years ago today, a great tragedy befell the Pearl of the Orient Seas. In a mountain of Maragondon, Cavite province, Andres Bonifacio, the founder and Supremo of the Philippine revolutionary movement was executed following a Kangaroo Court military trial by the camp of Emilio Aguinaldo, the man who deposed him by way of an anomalous "national elections." This virtual murder of a man who wielded the revolutionary fire of courage and the great vision of an archipelagic nation free and liberated from the yoke of colonial rule was so tragic it initially "smothered the enthusiasm for the revolutionary cause" of many non-Caviteno revolutionaries such that Aguinaldo's "so-called government had to withdraw to the mountains of Biak-na-Bato in Bulacan." 
More important than these companies are Ayala Corporation, Gateway Mall/Araneta Center ABS-CBN, and Philippine Daily Inquirer which are all-out for the yellow candidate. Most artists of ABS-CBN, and even of GMA-7, also endorse Noynoy. Aside from Kris Aquino's presence, many well-known actors, actresses and singers grace the Liberal Party's sorties and rallies. 
