Newsbreak: Slain Comelec exec lived checkered past

Slain Comelec official Aligden DalaigAlioden Dalaig, shot dead while about to enter a casino in Manila last Nov. 10, was a protégé of resigned Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos and handled hot election cases. He gambled big and paid the price for it. Three weeks since he was gunned down while about to enter a casino in Ermita, Manila, the death of Alioden Dalaig, former law department head of the Commission on Elections, remains a mystery. Although the police have ruled out robbery as a motive—since the killers didn’t take the cash that Dalaig was carrying at the time—there’s not much progress in the investigation into his slay. Instead, police probers are now in trouble for supposedly taking P7,000 of the P334,910 cash of Dalaig and replacing his gold bracelet with a fake one. Some of his associates in Comelec, however, said that the sub-plot in Dalaig’s murder—that of being victimized twice over—somewhat mirrors the dangerous game that he played as director of the poll body’s law department. It was a game that left a lot of clues as to why he was killed, but not enough to solve the puzzle. Dalaig began his career in Comelec as a legal assistant in the barangay affairs department in 1973, and steadily rose in the ranks until he was appointed law department head in March 2004 by then Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos. Even before his appointment, colleagues said that Dalaig had already been currying favors with Abalos. His ties to Abalos changed him, because before getting to the top post at the law department, Dalaig was known to be approachable and humble. Officemates said Dalaig was a reliable co-worker who hardly called attention to himself. One anecdote goes that when Dalaig passed the bar in 1967, he infuriated his family in Kapai, Lanao del Sur, who had wanted to throw a kandori or a celebration for the entire community. “At that time, as it is today, becoming a lawyer in Lanao del Sur, especially in a sleepy town like Kapai, was a big deal," recalled a Lanao resident who knew Dalaig’s family. “The family printed banners welcoming Alioden and the mood was festive." But Dalaig chose to snub the party and went home in the dead of the night, when everyone had gone home. “His family was so embarrassed." This caused a gap between him and his clan, prompting Dalaig to go home to Lanao only rarely. Turning Powerful Dalaig changed when he was promoted chief of the legal department, according to his colleagues. He began issuing controversial decisions that at times defied logic. For example, he sought the preventive suspension of Ferdinand Rafanan, then director of the poll body’s National Capital Region office, after the latter did not act on Abalos’s verbal orders for election officers to verify signatures gathered by the Sigaw ng Bayan movement that campaigned for charter change in 2006. Rafanan was merely seeking a legal clarification on the matter, but Dalaig, out to do Abalos’ biding, threatened to punish Rafanan administratively. Dalaig also provided a convenient cover for controversies that hounded the Comelec under Abalos. Against the sentiment of most Comelec senior officials, he refused to investigate the poll officials who were mentioned in the “Hello, Garci" tape, on the grounds that the tape was inadmissible as legal evidence. His name was in fact mentioned in the tape, yet this did not compel him to inhibit himself from passing judgment on the issue. In the MegaPacific case involving the botched P1.2 billion automation project for the poll body, the law department under Dalaig submitted a pleading to the Supreme Court separate from the one filed by the Office of the Solicitor General, which was the counsel for the Comelec in the case. The Office of the Solicitor General, at that time headed by former Comelec chief Alfredo Benipayo, was surprised by the move, since some of the arguments presented by Dalaig did not fit into its own arguments. During the midterm elections last May, Dalaig, on orders of Abalos, withheld the release of the nominees in the party-list race, even if this was open for scrutiny in the past. Although he knew that the list is a public document, he ordered an election lawyer to find legal basis for not releasing it. The case reached the Supreme Court, which eventually ordered the poll body to disclose the list to the public. Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento acknowledged that Dalaig enjoyed the trust of Abalos, and that among the senior staff, it was Dalaig who was probably closest to the resigned chairman next to Eduardo Mejos, the finance chief, who has been a longtime aide of Abalos. Thus, only a few were surprised when Dalaig was on the list of nominees for Comelec commissioner that the poll body submitted to Malacañang. In his desire to be named commissioner, Newsbreak gathered that Dalaig sought the backing of Senator Edgardo Angara and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte. Villafuerte confirmed to Newsbreak that Dalaig had sought for his endorsement. Wheeling and Dealing Colleagues said that Dalaig learned the art of wheeling and dealing from Abalos. Election lawyer Sixto Brillantes, who had known the slain poll official since 1992, pointed out that as law department director, Dalaig was exposed to all problems in the Comelec—criminal election offenses, pending electoral protests, and administrative cases. The law department is tasked to conduct preliminary investigations on election offenses such as illegal propaganda, illegal posting of campaign materials, vote-buying, etc. It is also from the law department that the Commission on en banc draws legal opinions on poll controversies. It was but natural, Brillantes said, that many candidates or their representatives would “visit" Dalaig for their election-related problems. “He was the succor of those who had problems with Comelec. They knew his position had influence." But it has not always been this way at the law department. During the time of Jose Balbuena, Brillantes noted that the retired law department director frowned upon on such “visits." Balbuena, he said, never allowed his department to be politicized. Unlike Dalaig, Balbuena was never close to any of the Comelec chiefs or the commissioners, and this worked to his advantage. “He was left to do his job." We talked with several staff members of the law department, who refused to be named for fear of their lives, and they confirmed that Dalaig had many frequent visitors, mostly fellow Muslims. Dalaig was a Maranaw. Among the controversial cases that Dalaig had handled was the gubernatorial contest in Lanao del Sur, where the Comelec proclaimed Mamintal Adiong as a winner last June 30. The proclamation took the camp of gubernatorial bet and former Marawi Mayor Omar Solitario Ali by surprise since they were still in the process of protesting the canvassing. Another was the three-way gubernatorial race in Shariff Kabunsuan, a newly created province; the Comelec has yet to declare a winner in the area. The post is being contested by Sultan Kudarat mayor Tocao Mastura, incumbent Gov. Bimbo Sinsuat, and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zacaria Candao. Another election lawyer said that Dalaig’s department was also in the process of drafting legal opinions on the cases of two party-list groups, one of which is based in Mindanao. Outside work, Dalaig was known to gamble big. If he was on a winning streak, he could wager as much as P100,000 in a casino. But on the night of November 10, his luck ran out. - Newsbreak