May polls audit: 7 Arroyo bets ‘biggest beneficiaries’ of vote discrepancies

The May 14 midterm elections were riddled with loopholes, laxities, abnormalities, anomalies, statistical impossibilities, discrepancies and fraudulence, especially in the Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). These irregularities mostly benefited the senatorial candidates of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo under the Team Unity (TU) ticket, who raked in a total of 1,417,200 additional votes. These were the findings of Halalang Marangal or the Network of Citizens for Honest Elections And Truthful Statistics, which came out on Friday with the results of the audit it conducted on election tallies from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections. Halalang Marangal is a non-profit, non-partisan consortium of groups and individuals who conduct a citizens' audit of Philippine election tallies. The consortium's convenors are former Senator Wigberto Tañada, retired General Francisco , former Comelec Commissioner Mehol Sadain, former St. Scholastica's College president Sr Mary John Manansan, 2004 TOYM awardee Atty. Ma. Paz Luna, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement senior vice-president Isagani Serrano, and Philippine Greens Institute Executive Director Roberto Verzola. In a 15-page report, Halalang Marangal enumerated 10 findings that primarily indicated that elections results in the ARMM were fraudulent, particularly in the provinces of Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan that benefited seven TU candidates, 2 Genuine Opposition (GO) bets and an Liberal Party (LP) runner. "There were statistical and circumstantial evidence indicating that the results from Maguindanao were fraudulent, yet these were accepted by the National Board of Canvassers as part of the official results," the group, stated in its major findings. Based on its audit, Halalang Marangal found out that voter turnouts were "abnormally high" in Maguindanao with 93.5 percent, in Shariff Kabunsuan with 91.5 percent and some municiplaities of other ARMM provinces. Biggest gainers Halal said the "ten biggest beneficiaries" of vote discrepancies in Mindanao and other parts of the country, "after their gains and losses were added up" are composed of 7 TU bets, 2 GO bets and an LP candidate. The 7 GO bets are Ralph Recto who gained 275,800 votes; Juan Miguel Zubiri who gained 257,100 votes, Prospero Pichay with 208,200 votes; Michael Defensor with 198,600 votes, Vicente "Tito" Sotto III with 176,500 votes; Joker Arroyo with 169,600 votes and Luis "Chavit" Singson with 131,400 votes. Meanwhile, the 2 GO bets who gained from vote irregularities are Manuel Villar Jr with 268,000 votes and Francis "Chiz" Escudero with 257,100 votes. The 10th gainer is LP candidate Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan with 220, 400 votes. Halal pointed out that "the discrepancies identified (in the audit) do not automatically mean cheating by the candidates who apparently gained votes from the discrepancies." "We call attention to these discrepancies so that they may be investigated, the causes identified, and the solutions formulated," Halal said. Halal said that if these irregularities would be investigated by concerned government agencies, " discrepancies due to electoral fraud may then be uncovered, which will hopefully lead to prosecution of suspects and punishment of the guilty." - GMANews.TV