Police, military now being used for political purposes by Arroyo to help coverup GLORIAGATE

Drilon: Are we back to Martial Law?

SENATE President Franklin Drilon yesterday denounced the raid conducted by police and military operatives on the rented house of Segundo Tabayoyong in San Mateo, Rizal Tuesday, saying it was "a martial law-type operation."

The raid was conducted by operatives from the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region and the Intelligence Service of the AFP, who said that aside from the 41 boxes of election returns, they also found a handgun and assorted ammunition.

"Are we back to the days of martial law when the President then conveniently converted our military and police officials into his personal, political goons?" Drilon said in a statement.

Tabayoyong, described to be a handwriting expert and former chief of the NBI’s Questioned Documents Division, is helping Loren Legarda in her electoral protest against Vice President Noli de Castro.

The United Opposition (UNO) said after a "creeping impeachment," it is now a "creeping" martial law.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, UNO chairman, described the raid as part of the "undemocratic, unconstitutional and dictatorial tactics" resorted to by the Arroyo administration.

"This only goes to show the extent to which this administration is going to protect itself," Binay said, adding the raid shows Arroyo’s tendency to use government agencies, including the military and the police, for her personal interests.

He asked the public to be vigilant, saying the San Mateo raid could just be the start of warrant-less arrest and seizures.

Binay and Drilon said the raid was illegal because of the absence of a warrant.

"This smacks of militarism. In any court, you can’t justify such a raid which was conducted in blatant violation of existing laws. The military and police officials responsible for this action should be charged accordingly," Drilon said. "We cannot tolerate illegal searches, especially those stained by political motives."

The CIDG said Wednesday the house owner agreed to a search without a warrant.

Senior Supt. Asher Dolina, CIDG-NCR chief, said the raid was conducted on the request of Carmela Cabuhat, the owner of the house at Block 10, Lot 25, Olopsville subdivision in Barangay Gulod Malaya, San Mateo, Rizal.

He said Cabuhat, in a complaint filed with the Isafp, said she found suspicious materials inside her house.

Drilon said the search was conducted in gross violation of the Bill of Rights protects citizens from searches and seizure except when there is probable cause as determined by a judge.

"A search is conducted on the premise that a crime has been committed. What is the crime here?" Drilon said. "Legally, whatever evidence they have seized during the raid cannot be used against Tabayoyong in court."

Drilon urged AFP chief Lt. Gen. Generoso Senga and PNP chief Arturo Lomibao to stick to their pledge that the military and police would remain neutral in the current political crisis.

"I challenge Generals Senga and Lomibao to prove to the Filipino people that they can back their words with action when they publicly declared that the military and the police will never be involved in partisan politics. This raid conducted by CIDG and ISAP personnel has all the makings of a politically motivated operation," Drilon said.

At the House, Rep. Teofisto Guingona III (NP, Bukidnon), a member of the opposition’s impeachment team, said Senga’s men blatantly violated his vow that the AFP would remain neutral.

"Bakit ang Isafp nagre-raid ng dokumento na ginagamit para ebidensya sa election fraud? Ang trabaho ng Isafp, anti-terrorism intelligence. Wala namang koneksyon sa terrorism yung mga election returns," he said.

"Si Gen. Senga, bagong chief of staff, nagsabi na the AFP will remain neutral. Pero klarong-klaro na ang ginagawa ng Isafp ay kabaligtaran ng sinasabi ng boss nila. So kailangan managot sila, mag-explain and those who have committed criminal acts should account to the people and to the nation," he said.

The opposition said some of their evidence in the electoral fraud charges in the impeachment complaint was the target of the raid, particularly the fabricated election returns in Tabayoyong’s possession.

Obstruction of justice ito. Damn, Arroyo has really turned the PNP and AFP into her private goons. tsk tsk. More on the raid here.

From the Malaya Editorial:

POLICE operatives and military intelligence agents raiding a rented house at two in the morning without a warrant on the complaint of the owner is now a "routine" police assistance operation?

This is what government officials now want us to believe after combined PNP and ISAFP operatives swooped down on the "safe house" of Segundo Tabayoyong, an expert document analyst tapped by the opposition to look into alleged fabricated election returns used in the 2004 elections.

That’s the problem when one starts out with a grand lie - that Gloria Arroyo won fair and square in 2004. One keeps on piling lies to maintain the original lie. But people have been accustomed to bare-faced lying by Palace officials, starting with Gloria Arroyo. So they are unlikely to fall for the latest one.

So let’s leave aside the scrambling by Palace officials for a believable explanation. It is the deed itself – the police and military swooping down Gestapo-like on someone’s abode in the dead of the night – and, more important, the motive behind it that must be condemned.

A crisis of leadership is haunting the nation. Arroyo stands accused of stealing the elections. The impeachment process is now unfolding in the House. Arroyo’s toadies are determined to block the process, but they cannot simply sweep the accusations under the rug. The justice committee, in the determination of the complaint’s sufficiency as to the substance, will certainly call for a presentation of evidence.

The fabricated documents seized from Tabayoyong are among the best evidence to show the canvassing was rigged. Who can now give the assurance the documents remain intact?

The police? The military? The very same people who were mentioned in the wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano as accomplices in the doctored canvassing?

When Lt. Gen. Generoso Senga early this week took over as AFP chief, he vowed to keep the military apolitical. Even as he was talking, seven generals are being investigated for suspected participation in electoral fraud. Lying is clearly contagious.

Now here comes the military intelligence service being used to seize potential evidence and harass potential witnesses.

And what about the police? PNP chief Arturo Lomibao himself was also mentioned in the "Hello Garci" tapes.

Apolitical? Come on, tell us another.

SAPUL! I think the Arroyo admin may be overreaching at this point with their blatant misuse of power, and they will pay a huge price for it later.

Ducky Paredes has an article on the Gloriagate illegal raid and Harry Stonehill.

From the Tribune:

Gloria scored for illegal raid, exploit of AFP-PNP

Friday, 08 19, 2005

An association of retired and active military officials yesterday sent a strong signal to President Arroyo to “stop” using the police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for her personal ends as this would only hasten her ouster.

Yes Arms spokesman retired Commodore Ismael Aparri blasted Mrs. Arroyo for using the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the police and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) to raid the rented home of former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) handwriting expert and chief document examiner Segundo Tabayoyong and confiscate some 41 boxes of original and photocopied election returns.

“She herself in her message to the AFP during the turnover ceremony of the chief of staffs, appealed to the military not to allow itself to be used in any partisan politicking. But look! She is doing a contrary thing, exhausting everything, including killing the evidence for the impeachment case” stressing that her tactics smack of martial law.

Aparri said the raid conducted by the police and the military of the safehouse is not helping the President but instead contributing to her downfall.

“It's not what she (Arroyo) thinks is happening on the ground (referring to idealists young officers). Her actions are contributing more disenchantment and disgruntlement of military junior officers,” he said.

Aparri then warned Mrs. Arroyo to stop her “double talk” as the idealists in the military were just waiting for the opportune time to oust her from power.

“They (AFP) are watching and clearly observing events. We have to remind her (Arroyo) that we could be the last ingredient that would effect her ouster,” he stressed.

For his part, former Constabulary chief retired Maj. Gen. Ramon Montano yesterday branded the warrantless raid in San Mateo, Rizal as a clear indication of law enforcement agencies being used by the Arroyo administration for political purposes.

Montano particularly pointed to the Isafp and the CIDG, as “concrete proof “ of the police and military being used by Mrs. Arroyo for political purposes.

The raid was conducted without a search warrant and was deemed illegal.

Montano's statements were echoed by military officers, who requested anonymity, who mocked the AFP's supposed apolitical stance.

One officer also cited the supposed involvement of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) to the hunt for Army Capt. Marlon Mendoza before his testimony before the Senate hearing on jueteng payola weeks ago.

“Isafp, also PSG's hunt for Mendoza, breached the limit of the AFP mandate. This belies AFP's apolitical bullshit.” the officer siad.

I can't wait for the day when we frogmarch this bogus and corrupt president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo out of Malacanang in handcuffs.

And last but not least, here's the tribune editorial:

Desperation leads one to make stupid mistakes, and Gloria Arroyo, along with her operators, certainly were desperate enough to have made a most stupid move in getting her prostituted police and military agents to illegally raid an opposition safehouse that contained documented evidence of the election fraud and studies done by a documents expert.

The documents seized by elements of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) rightfully belong to the opposition, as they are the official Commission on Elections copies meant for the opposition party. The documents expert, former National Bureau of Investigation chief documents examiner, was doing a perfectly legal job of examining and analyzing the documents and signatures of the poll officers, as well as the Jose Pidal signatures. And, as admitted by a Comelec officer, the poll documents seized were authentic.

What justification then was there for the CIDG and Isafp agents to barge into a private property, at 2 a.m. and without a search and seizure warrant, confiscate the documents and possibly nab yet another valuable witness of the opposition?

No justification whatsoever. But as the intent was obviously to get hold of the poll fraud witnesses and evidence which would pin Gloria on the crime, the evidence had to be carted away and by her prostituted police and military. And to “justify” their raid, which they claimed was a “legitimate operation,” they went on to plant “evidence” in the form of firearms (two handguns) and magazines.

Legitimate operations? How can it be so when there was no warrant issued? And just what were these agents of Gloria searching for? Just what reason was there for them to seize 41 boxes of election documents and private studies? And why were Isafp agents involved in the clearly illegal operations? There certainly was no national security issue involved in such operation, and it was clearly a politically partisan move.

Just a few days ago, with the changing of the guards in the AFP, Gloria ordered the military not to engage in partisan political activities and to uphold the law and the Constitution, yet there she was prostituting the same military and the police again, getting them to break the law and the Constitution, by seizing evidence of election fraud to ensure that the evidence against her would be destroyed and replaced with her manufactured evidence as well as planting evidence to justify the illegal act.

Few, if any, would buy the CIDG-Isafp team's claim of its being tipped off by the owner of the San Mateo rented home of suspected illegal activities, or if there was such a tip, the thing to do then was for the raiding team to get a search or seizure warrant from a court of law.

In any case, if there was such a tip, the thing to do was for the CIDG-Isafp elements to conduct, at the very least, initial surveillance operations on that house to check on the comings and goings to verify the claimed complaint instead of swooping down at 2 a.m. and without any occupant, enter and seize those documents, which have no bearing on any criminal act.

What is more likely is that the raiding agents were ordered by their Commander-in-Chief, on the basis of intelligence reports that there was a roomful of poll fraud evidence against Gloria Arroyo that must be destroyed, then exchange this with fabricated election returns to make it appear that the opposition was manufacturing evidence of poll fraud against Gloria while the team engaged in the planting those unlicensed firearms and magazines to frame the opposition with yet another crime.

Now why should a document examiner like Segundo Tabayoyong have need for guns? That he was working solely on examining the evidence and nothing else can be gleaned from the confiscated documents, all of which were election returns and Jose Pidal signatures. So what if there were campaign posters of opposition candidates and compact discs of detained President Joseph Estrada? What is so incriminatory about them as these are not stolen goods, or even subversive materials or even manufactured evidence?

The trouble was that the raiding team illegal operation was found out too soon and all fingers point to Malacañang's and its operators' desperation in destroying all the evidence of poll fraud.

How then does Gloria expect to get the junior officers' resentments to simmer down, or even make them believe that serious military reforms are underway when it becomes much too evident that she uses the police and military to perform illegal acts, and all for her political survival?

How can a Commander-in­-Chief and President, who is tasked to uphold the law but is found too many times breaking the law and even order the police and the military to engage, not only in partisan politics, but also in illegal and unconstitutional acts, even expected to be respected by the military and the citizenry?

Previous:

- How Gangsters' Operate
- PSG as palace attack dogs
- Ang bagong "Witness Prevention Program" ng Arroyo admin
- Another Potential Applicant for the Witness Prevention Program
- Kidnapping potential witnesses
- Where's Rashma Hali?
- More on Rashma Hali
- Gloriambino Crime family