Poll official: There seems to be cheating in 2004 elections

A Commission on Elections official on Monday admitted that cheating seemed to have occurred during the 2004 national elections. “It would seem that [election cheating] is happening and (it) happened in Lanao del Sur," Comelec Commissioner Resurrecion Borra admitted before a Senate committee hearing. He also said what happened in Lanao del Sur “was not a natural happening." Borra said election anomalies, like conflicting serial numbers of election returns, also turned up during the 1992 and 1995 elections. He also admitted that except for dismissal or suspension from office, no election official has been actually convicted for election crimes. “So many were charged, except for dismissed or several (who were) suspended, none were convicted," Borra said. Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, meanwhile, said Lanao del Sur seems to be the leading “supplier" of padded votes and spurious election returns in presidential elections. He said Lanao del Sur has figured prominently in tight presidential races in the past after contesting parties discovered wide discrepancies in the vote tallies. “Why is it that election irregularities like tampered election returns and conflicting serial numbers in statement of votes are prevalent in Lanao del Sur?" Enrile asked during the Senate hearing on alleged cheating in the 2004 presidential election. “It’s the same thing, nobody has been charged and none meted out with punishment," Enrile said. The senator said incidents of tampering of election paraphernalia also occurred even during the electoral battle between President Elpidio Quirino and Senate President Jose P. Laurel. Enrile said the group of Laurel was even “ready to launch a military effort against Quirino" after noticing irregular vote tallies coming from Lanao del Sur. Enrile said similar charges of poll cheating flew during the time of then re-electionist President Carlos Garcia who ran and lost to Ramon Magsaysay. Enrile said Lanao del Sur again figured in an election controversy when then President Diosdado Macapagal ran against Garcia. He said the same election controversy erupted during the time of Ferdinand Marcos who ran against Macapagal. IRREGULARITIES Systems analyst Hermigildo Estrella said election irregularities were also present during the 2004 elections. Estrella, who conducted an analysis of the election results in 2004, said in Poona Bayabao town in Lanao del Sur, there was a wide discrepancy in the voting results reflected in the State of Votes (SOVs) and in the election returns. In a powerpoint presentation before the Senate committee on national defense and security, Estrella claimed that President Arroyo got 1,795 votes as against the 1,308 votes of Fernando Poe Jr. based on election returns. Estrella, who admitted he was once a consultant of Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel, said the votes of Poe, was swiped clean or became zero while the number of votes for President Arroyo rose to 4,700 when the tallies were transferred to the provincial SOV. Roberto Verzola, executive director of the Philippine Greens Institute, said Lanao del Sur has the most highest incidence of discrepancies in vote tallies at 58 percent. Verzola said the discrepancies appeared in the presidential tallies of Congress and the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel). He, however, said the worst cheating occurred in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Verzola said votes for Mrs. Arroyo were “padded" by 1.192 million. Convened as the National Canvassing Board, the Senate and the House of Representatives declared in June 2004 President Arroyo winner of the May 2004 presidential race by one million votes. Verzola said he used as basis of his study Namfrel’s copy of election returns. He claimed the worst cheating occurred in Mindanao, particularly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao where there was a 50.5-percent discrepancy between the Namfrel and Congress tallies, followed by Central Mindanao with a 13.5-percent discrepancy. The worst cheating happened in Basilan with 75.1-percent discrepancy; Sultan Kudarat with 65.4 percent; Lanao del Sur, 58 percent; Sulu, 41.3 percent; Tawi-Tawi, 35.9 percent; Maguindanao, 18.7 percent; and Lanao del Norte, 16.2 percent. “The discrepancies indicated cheating in favor of Arroyo," Verzola said, adding that the estimated discrepancies in Mindanao alone already involved some 573,000 votes. He said “the Congress tally showed higher average number of votes per precinct compared with the Namfrel’s, indicating vote padding." The biggest increases in voter turnout, Verzola claimed, occurred in the ARMM, which has 53.6 votes per precinct; Ilocos by 20.7 more votes; Central Visayas by 14.3 votes; Eastern Visayas by 8.3 votes; Central Mindanao by 7.8 votes; and Bicol by 4.8 votes. Verzola said vote padding in Ilocos, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Bicol involved some 619,000 votes. He claimed that Namfrel’s copy of election returns were more reliable than those submitted to the Congress. -GMANews.TV