WARNING FROM MIRIAM: PREPARATIONS FOR MASSIVE POLL FRAUD UNDERWAY
MANILA, JANUARY 19, 2010 (STAR) By Christina Mendez - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago warned that preparations were underway for massive fraud in the May elections.In a privilege speech she delivered yesterday at the Senate, she cited two disturbing developments that could be signs of a grand electoral fraud.
She cited the transfer of heavy firepower and urban armored capability from different areas all over the country to the police Special Action Force (SAF) headquarters in Sta. Rosa, Laguna and the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, and the ongoing transfer of police chiefs in targeted provinces such as Pangasinan, Cavite, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, and Leyte.
“There seems to be an effort to create a political situation where armored confrontation is highly probable. This seems to be the basis of recent PNP orders relating to ordnance and armaments. This is highly suspicious,” she said.
Specifically, Santiago said this involved the recall of the following: armored units from Mindanao; all crew-served weapons, such as .50 and .30 caliber machineguns; and of 2,000 units of modern sniper rifles.
“All the bells and whistles are ringing. It is in Metro Manila that the PNP fighting capability is being concentrated. It is also in Metro Manila where financial resources have been recently generated. The PNP technical units in the field are demoralized. Something is definitely going on,” the senator said.
Santiago also hit the transfer of police chiefs before the campaign period, saying this is illegal as it constitutes the crime of unlawful appointment under the Penal Code, Article 244.
“This transfer of police chiefs is illegal. Under Republic Act 8851 or the Police Reform Act of 1998, the mayor has authority to recommend to the provincial director the transfer, reassignment, or detail of PNP members outside of their respective city or town residences. The mayors’ recommendations were not sought, thus resulting in illegality,” she said.
Puno behind plans to conduct fraud
Santiago tagged Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno behind plans to conduct electoral fraud either by violence or tampering of ballots.
Santiago questioned Puno’s motives for ordering the transfer of all armored units that were issued to the Regional Special Action Forces (RSAFs), Regional Mobile Groups (RMGs) and Provincial Mobile Groups (PMGs) and the recall of all crew-served weapons such as caliber .50 Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) and cal. 30 Light Machine Gun (LMG) to the Special Action Force (SAF) headquarters.
Santiago said she has warned President Arroyo of these two disturbing developments, and that the President seemed to be unaware of them.
“These developments were caused by DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who is ex-officio Napolcom chief with administrative control over the PNP. He seems to be acting on his own,” she said.
Shifting loyalties
As promised to the Senate media, Santiago delivered yesterday a privilege speech titled “The Avatar of Corruption,” where she accused Puno of simultaneously peddling himself as a kingmaker to the Lakas-Kampi, Nacionalista, and Liberal parties.
Santiago also blasted Puno for shifting loyalties from President Arroyo now that she is leaving the presidency.
The senator revealed that Puno had met with representatives of the Liberal Party and contacted officials of the Nacionalista Party.
“Hence, he is secretly peddling himself as an election manipulator and kingmaker. His pitch is that he will enter into a secret, but strong political alliance, using as his power base the full force and awesome resources of the DILG and the PNP,” Santiago said.
Santiago also described Puno as “Punong Magikero,” who is behind the demolition job against her. “Punong Magikero is not only the avatar of corruption and the jueteng king, he is also the denial king. He has caused and funded the filing of a petition with the Comelec seeking to cancel my candidacy, and another petition with the Supreme Court to disbar me,” Santiago said.
The senator likened Puno to an avatar of corruption and electoral fraud in the Philippines. “He should not be confused with Reynato Puno, the Chief Justice, or the Punong Mahistrado. Ronaldo Puno, the DILG Secretary, should be known as Punong Magikero because he is devoted to the occult arts,” Santiago said.
Puno and Santiago have been bitter enemies since 1992 when Santiago accused him of manipulating the presidential elections in favor of Fidel Ramos.
Santiago noted that the two petitions for disbarment and disqualification filed against her were identical and that they constitute a rehash of all the black propaganda that Puno threw at her during the 1992 presidential campaign. She questioned the integrity of the lawyer in both cases, Bonifacio Alentajan, whom the senator revealed to have been kicked out of the Pasay City fiscal’s office for alleged corruption.
She recalled that Puno even linked her to the suicide of her son, Alexander Robert at their residence in La Vista, Quezon City on Nov. 20, 2003.
“What manner of diabolic creature on the face of this endangered planet is Punong Magikero? How can someone, even one so low on the food chain, write these lies concerning a tragedy so widely covered by mass media, and even broadcast on TV for weeks? What kind of moral imbecile is this creature?” Santiago said.
“(He) thinks he can dissolve me into puddles of tears this way. But I am past all pain. Kala mo mapapaiyak mo ako?! For on that day that my son died, I, too, died. I have moved forward, but as a mother I will never get over the loss of one of my two children,” Santiago said.
According to the senator, Puno also has a “unique ability to persuade sitting presidents to give him access to, and control of, large financial resources, which he uses to manipulate people, perceptions, and even the results of elections.”
“But apart from corruption, he has not exhibited any particular ability; his best asset seems to be the capacity to put his conscience to sleep,” she added.
Graft raps filed against Santiago before Ombudsman
Meanwhile, a Muslim man filed graft raps against Sen. Santiago at the Office of the Ombudsman for her alleged failure to declare six real properties in her Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).
In a 10-page complaint, Sultan Abdulhamid A. Alimuddin of Barangay Buansa, Indanan, Sulu said the veteran lawmaker should be held liable for culpable violation of the Constitution for allegedly hiding her assets.
“For many years, respondent was a rented apartment dweller until she suddenly acquired the La Vista mansion and occupied the same in June 2002. The value of her newly acquired properties is grossly disproportionate to her salary as senator which, according to her, is ‘P43,000.00, per month’,” he alleged.
Aside from the La Vista mansion supposedly located at No. 36 Ifugao Street corner 6 Bagobo Street, La Vista, Quezon City, Alimuddin said Defensor’s “other unexplained real estate acquisitions” include a house at No. 29 Maalindog Street, UP Village, Quezon City; a house at West 4th Street, West Triangle, Quezon City; an agricultural land in Inosluban, Lipa, Batangas; another house in Oton, Iloilo; and a leisure mansion in Tagaytay.
He said the senator, “by her deliberate failure to make a full disclosure of her financial and business interests,” violated Article VI Section 12 of the 1987 Constitution which provides that “all members of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall, upon assumption of office, make a full disclosure of their financial and business interests.” With Michael Punongbayan
NOT YET: COMELEC DENIED GOVs, DY, PAGDANGANAN 'MOTIONS FOR EXECUTION'
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday refused to execute orders installing former Bulacan Gov. Roberto Pagdanganan and former Isabela Gov. Benjamin Dy as governors of the two provinces.In separate decisions, the Comelec en banc denied the “motions for execution” filed by Pagdanganan and Dy whom it declared as the duly elected governors of Bulacan and Isabela, respectively, in November and December 2009.
The Comelec had directed proclaimed Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza and Isabela Gov. Ma. Gracia Cielo Padaca to vacate the posts, but the two filed their respective motions for reconsideration instead.
The ruling on Isabela, penned by Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, showed that “execution pending appeal is an extraordinary remedy, being more of the exception rather than the rule.”
“This rule is strictly construed against the movant (Dy) because courts look with disfavor upon any attempt to execute a judgment which has not acquired finality. Such execution affects the rights of the parties which are yet to be ascertained on appeal,” he said.
Larrazabal said the Comelec has decided to maintain “status quo” as it is “well aware that what is involved herein is the will of the electorate of the province of Isabela.”
Mendoza and Padaca were declared winners in the 2007 polls but Pagdanganan and Dy claimed to have been cheated of victory and filed electoral protests with the Comelec.
This led to the revisions of votes from the two provinces by the Comelec Second Division.
After this, the Second Division ruled that Pagdanganan and Dy won against Mendoza and Padaca by a vote margin of 4,321 and 17,007, respectively. – Sheila Crisostomo
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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