Maguindanao whistleblowers: ‘We did it for TU’s 12-0 win’

GMA News exclusive: A man presenting himself as one of three people who wrote down the names of Team Unity’s candidates in the ballots for a barangay (village) in Maguindanao swore Wednesday that allegations of fraud in the elections there are true. Using the alias “Karim," the man told a GMA News reporter that he and two other persons accomplished the ballots on the eve of the May 14 elections on orders of the barangay chairman he did not name. “May 13 pa lang tinapos na naming yung eleksyon. Yung listahan ng mga senador, yun ang inilagay namin sa balota, 12-0 pabor sa Team Unity (We finished the election on May 13. The list of the senators, that’s what we wrote on the ballots, 12-0 in favor of Team Unity)," Karim narrated. Some groups have raised doubts that elections actually took place in Maguindanao in view of the 12-0 sweep of administration senatorial candidates there. According to Karim, he and the two other men could not refuse the order out of fear. Come election day, there was no more voting, only counting of votes, he said. Karim challenged the Commission on Elections to examine the election returns from the barangay, which he did not identify, and they should be able to notice only three handwritings on the ballots. “Kami po mismo yung nagsulat Kami po mismo yung nagsulat sa balota, kung mapapansin n’yo ‘yung, pag binuksan po ‘yung balota sa official ballot, malalaman po n’yo na ‘yung writing ay tatlong tao lang po, kasi tatlong tao lang yung pare-parehas ang writing, tapos yung mga thumbmark dun, ‘yung iba mga thumb mark ng iba-ibang tao (We were the ones who wrote on the ballots, if you will notice when the ballots are opened, you will notice the handwritings of three persons because there were three of us who wrote down. And the thumb marks there, some were of other persons)," Kiram further narrated in GMA’s late evening news Saksi. “Lahat po ng sinasabi ko tungkol sa dayaan sa election totoo po ‘yun (Everything I said about cheating in the elections were true)," he swore. Apart from Karim, the GMA News reporter Jiggy Manicad also spoke to another person who said he was present when municipal employees and school teachers were writing the votes on election returns for Sharif Aguak, Maguindanao’s capital town, on May 13. The second witness refused to be identified or be interviewed on camera for fear of his life. But lawyer Lintang Bedol, Maguindanao’s provincial election supervisor, dared the witnesses to come out and file appropriate charges in court so substantial their claims of electoral fraud. “Unless they file things in court, then we cannot ventilate issues rightfully. Kung sa media lang at sa newspapers ay wala tayong magagawa (If it is only in the media or newspapers, we cannot do anything)," he told GMA News. Meantime, school teachers in Maguindanao gathered at the capitol grounds to show their support for Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan and to disabuse the public minds that they were part of the cheating in the elections. The provincial governor was not around, but his brother, regional Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, shrugged off allegations of cheating in the province and labeled it as “propaganda." “We should accept that Maguindanao is a bailiwick of the administration. Should we believe someone who claimed to be a teacher but did not want to be named, to cast doubts on the results of the elections and besmirch the teachers of Maguindanao," the regional governor said. He observed that in areas where the opposition candidates were winning, there have not been complaints. In the end, he said there is the Comelec to conduct proper investigation on complaints. - Tita Valderama, GMANews.TV