Documentary claims proof of 2004 poll fraud

Senator Francis Escudero on Thursday presented to the Senate media a video documentary which claimed to show proof of alleged irregularities during the 2004 elections that benefited former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. At the weekly Senate forum, Escudero said the 58-minute video documentary was produced three to four years ago by the suppporters of defeated 2004 presidential bet Fernando Poe Jr. led by Marichu 'Manay Ichu' Maceda. The video, titled "The 2004 elections: The truth behind Hello Garci," first posed the question: "Is there a sinister cover-up (during the 2004 polls)? Have we proclaimed the wrong president?" It later on recounted the events which transpired from the time Mrs. Arroyo declared in 2002 that she wouldn't run in the 2004 polls up to the dismissal of impeachment complaints filed against her when she was already President. It also explained in brief the electoral process and the importance of each election material, from the election returns to the certificates of canvass. The documentary then went on to demonstrate alleged irregularities in the election materials. The camp of Mrs. Arroyo has denied any involvement in the alleged cheating. "Normal lamang siguro na reaction ‘yan ng mga [nag-aakalang] sila ay na-agrabyado ng nakaraang labanan sa pulitika… We’ll just leave it at that," lawyer Raul Lambino, Mrs. Arroyo’s legal counsel said on Tuesday. Artificial lead According to the video, several COCs were tampered to give Mrs. Arroyo an "artificial" lead. It also said the list of registered voters was padded by around 38.3 million to 43.5 million voters. After the contested election materials, the video also showed an analysis of the taped conversation about alleged vote-rigging between a man presumed to be Elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and a woman presumed to be Mrs. Arroyo. The recorded phone conversation later became known as the “Hello Garci" controversy. Both Mrs. Arroyo and Garcillano have denied taking part in the purported rigging of the 2004 polls. The video claimed that all the demands made by Mrs. Arroyo in the tape were fulfilled during the elections, including her wish of a fabricated lead of at least 1 million votes. It alleged that a total of 15 calls were exchanged between Mrs. Arroyo and Garcillano between May 26 to June 10, 2004. Victory Based on the official tally by Congress sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, Mrs. Arroyo won the 2004 elections after garnering 12,905,808 votes over Poe's 11,782,232 votes. The video, however, said that Garcillano manipulated the votes in Mindanao to give Mrs. Arroyo "fabricated" votes. It said that there was dagdag-bawas in Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat. It even cited 11 municipalities in Maguindanao wherein there was supposed to be no elections yet they had produced the following results: 109,151 votes for Mrs. Arroyo and 1,416 votes for Poe. Because of this, the former Philippine leader allegedly gained her wish of a fabricated margin of at least 1,063,772 votes, noting that the alleged fabricated votes from other parts of the country have yet been added to this number. "We proclaimed the wrong president, the true winner is Fernando Poe Jr. We were robbed, our votes were stolen, our voices were silenced," the narrator asserted in the video. Poe died on Dec. 14, 2004 but his widow, Susan Roces, pursued the electoral protest against Mrs. Arroyo. In March 2005, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) dismissed the protest. For posterity? Escudero, who was Poe's spokesman during the 2004 elections, said his group had already shown the documentary in the past. "Para lang for posterity, marecord namin ang mga pangyayari noon (This is for posterity, so that we'll be able to record what happened back then), he said. "Noong mga panahong yon sa ilalim ni GMA bawat pintuan at bintanang nais namin pasukan para mahanap ang katotohanan noong palaging sinasaraduhan," he added. Escudero had earlier filed Joint Resolution No. 11 which seeks the creation of a fact-finding commission that would supposedly bring closure to allegations of massive poll fraud which allegedly benefited Mrs. Arroyo. On Wednesday, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes, voicing out his opinion as the former lawyer of Poe, said the late actor was the real winner in the 2004 elections. — RSJ, GMA News