Pimentel seeks transparency in Abalos’ search for ‘missing’ Maguindanao CoC

06/18/2007

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday expressed serious doubts over the motives of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr.’s trip to Maguin-danao supposedly to search for missing election documents, demanding transparency in every move the latter makes.

“Full disclosure of the schedule of the trip of Chairman Abalos and his team should include the places they will visit and the people they intend to meet with, and should be made accessible to media,” he said.

In stressing the need for transparency in Abalos’ “mission,” Pimentel said they cannot help but expect the possibility of the missing municipal certificates of canvass, statements of votes (SoVs) and other election documents suddenly surfacing and being turned over to the Comelec team to justify the tabulation of the Maguindanao CoC and their inclusion in the national canvass of senatorial votes, which the

Comelec chairman branded himself has “statistically improbable.”

The senator, father of Genuine Opposition (GO) senatorial bet Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who is currently at the 12th slot of the canvassing procedures, said should this happen, it could pave the way for the tabulation of the falsified certificates to favor Team Unity (TU) senatorial candidates.

“Abalos should not be led into the temptation of accepting just about any CoC to lay the basis for a TU victory in Maguindanao,” he said.

Pimentel emphasized the need for the Comelec team to make its mission transparent by allowing the media to fully cover its activities and have representatives from the National Movement for Free Elections, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, Legal Network for Truthful Elections, political parties and local non-government organizations to witness the proceedings.

“Otherwise, dubious CoCs may be submitted to Abalos and complicate the situation even further,” he said.

“Abalos’ search for stolen Maguindanao CoC, like the search for the Holy Grail, must proceed from pure motives. He must announce where he will start, how he will do it, and the people he will contact and meet in the province,” he said.

Pimentel denounced the reported abduction of two public school teachers from Maguindanao who were among the witnesses who have agreed to testify on the purported commission of massive electoral fraud in the province.

He requested the Philippine National Police to look into the report that Fatima Salimbang and Bantilan Sindatuk, who served as election inspectors in South Upi, Maguindanao, were abducted by six men in Cebu City last week while they were on their way to Manila

to testify on the poll irregularities in the province.

Raul de la Torre of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) in Zamboanga City said he was escorting Salimbang and Sindatuk when the abduction took place as their ship docked in Cebu City to unload and receive passengers and cargo.

A week before, Musa Dimasingsing, school supervisor in Pagalungan, Mindanao, who helped the teachers expose supposed poll fraud in the province, was killed by unidentified gunmen in front of a madrasah school in Pikit, Maguindanao where they have taken refuge.

“The government should be held responsible for the killing and abduction of the public school teachers in Cebu City for failing to extend protection to them after they came forward to blow the whistle on the rampant cheating,” Pimentel said.

He added the failure of the Comelec and the Department of Justice to put the Maguindanao teachers under the Witness Protection Program only indicates that the Arroyo administration is trying to cover up election anomalies, or worse, may be a part of a well-organized cheating conspiracy.

Meanwhile, the camp of deposed President Joseph Estrada yesterday challenged Abalos to lead the prosecution of Maguindanao election supervisor and lawyer Lintang Bedol for alleged involvement in the manipulation of poll results in the province, which resulted in the 12-0 victory for TU senatorial bets.

In a phone interview, PMP spokesman and congressman-elect Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro), said Abalos should be transparent and take legal actions against Bedol for claiming that copies of controversial CoC entrusted to him by election officers in his province, was stolen from his office by still unidentified persons.

“To prove that he’s (Abalos) not in anyway involved in a seeming conspiracy here, he should take necessary actions to protect the integrity and independence of the Comelec. He should order Bedol to explain in writing his side and if such proves insufficient, file a criminal case against him,” Rodriguez told the Tribune.

For his part, TU senatorial bet Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is currently in the 13th slot, urged Abalos to ignore the opposition’s appeal and instead proceed with the canvassing of the Maguindanao votes.

Zubiri said over ANC News Cable that if the remaining votes in the province are to be canvassed, he would surely emerge victorious, citing as precedent Mrs. Arroyo’s case during the 2004 presidential polls, where votes in fraud laden provinces in Mindanao were still canvassed despite opposition, resulting in her victory.

Zubiri said the political opposition were later allowed to file an electoral protest.

“It would be undemocratic if Comelec Chairman Abalos would discard the Maguindanao votes. The right thing to do is to proceed with the canvass and then let him (Pimentel) file an election protest. That’s the rule. Even the President when she ran and her votes were being questioned, the House of Representatives, acting as the board of canvassers proceeded with the canvassing of votes and allowed the opposition to file an election protest later,” he said.

He added if he is proclaimed as winner and Pimentel proceeded with the filing of an election protest, the complaint would be properly heard as Pimentel’s father is a senator.

Zubiri said what Pimentel and the opposition are doing is pressuring Abalos and the rest of the Comelec commissioners into not canvassing the hotly-contested Maguindanao votes. Angie M. Rosales and Sherwin C. Olaes

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