THERE is no limit to what Gloria Arroyo will do to suppress the truth about the cheating she did in the 2004 elections.
This time, she is dangling to former ARMM Governor Parouk Hussin the ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia to make him keep quiet about the many things he know about the massive election fraud in Cotabato City, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Lanao del Sur- which make up the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
The matter of managing the results of the ARRM 2004 elections figured several times in the wiretapped conversations between former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and Arroyo and several other elections operators.
Yvonne Chua, in her article "Working ‘Miracles’ in Mindanao" in the special edition of "I", the magazine of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, said: "The ARMM votes were crucial to ensuring the President’s 1.1 million lead over opposition candidate Fernando Poe, Jr. A quarter of that winning margin –277,729 – came from ARMM alone. In all, Arroyo’s lead over Poe in Mindanao was 496,116, of which ARMM was responsible for more than 56 percent. ARMM contributed 17 percent to the President’s total Mindanao vote."
Last month, before the Aug. 10 ARMM elections, in the presence of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Libyan Ambassador Salem M. Adam, Arroyo offered Hussin the position of ambassador to Saudi Arabia, which is currently being held by a Muslim career officer, Bahnarim Guinomla.
Since Hussin had established good relations with the Organization of Islamic Conference, Arroyo also mentioned about naming him concurrent ambassador to the OIC, a function being performed by Rafael Seguis, foreign undersecretary for special concerns.
The offer was Arroyo’s peace offering to Hussin who had to withdraw his candidacy for ARMM governor because of Malacañang’s non-support. Malacañang supported Zaldy Ampatuan, who was eventually declared the winner.
Between Hussin and the Ampatuans, the latter have greater leverage on Arroyo as they actively operated for her in the 2004 elections. Hussin at that time was a senatorial candidate under Arroyo’s K-4 party.
Zaldy Ampatuan was mayor of Shariff Aguak, whose election results in 2004 were found highly suspicious. Of the 22,854 registered voters, Arroyo got 22,754 or 99.98 per cent while Fernando Poe Jr. got only 5 or .02 percent.
Zaldy is the son of Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan. The opposition report of the 2004 elections stated that "no elections took place in hundreds of precincts in Maguindanao."
The opposition report also said, "the provincial COC’s for Maguindanao is a product of fictitious and spurious votes coming from 11 municipalities, which have a turnout of 99.99 per cent, with all the votes going to candidate GMA and zero for candidate Poe."
It is understandable that the Ampatuans would stick it out with Arroyo and that Arroyo would continue cultivating the Ampatuans because they are both deeply embroiled in the alleged election fraud in 2004.
There are even talks, unconfirmed, that before leaving the country last month, Garcillano was seen in the jurisdiction of the Ampatuans.
It was not surprising therefore that Hussin would be dropped in the ARMM in favor of Ampatuan. Yet, Hussin is not completely ignorant of what happened in the ARMM, not only in the manipulation of votes but also in the use of public funds. Somehow, he had to be given an incentive to keep silent. Thus, Saudi Arabia was dangled.
Sources in the DFA, however, said there has been no instruction from Malacañang to seek Saudi Arabia’s agreement to nominate Hussin although Guinomla is being transferred to Turkey. There is also no instruction to create a new position of special envoy to OIC for Hussin.
Early this year, when national security adviser Norberto Gonzales wanted to push Hussin out of ARMM due to differences on how to use the multi-million dollar development fund from foreign countries for the autonomous region, Malacañang instructed DFA to nominate him as ambassador to Sweden. (Hussin’s wife is Swedish.)
The Sweden assignment for Hussin caused a minor furor in the DFA because Ambassador Vicky Bataclan had assumed her Stockholm post for a little over a year and she should not be moved out until after the regular three-year tour of duty. The DFA then thought of setting up an embassy in Norway for Bataclan. The plan never materialized due to lack of funds. Hussin was allowed to finish his term up to Sept. 30 this year.
Hussin is getting restless waiting for his ambassadorial nomination. He is worried that he would be discarded now that Arroyo is preoccupied with buying allies in the impeachment battle.
We have a suggestion to Hussin: try blackmail, the language best understood by Arroyo. He should threaten to expose what he knows on the 2004 ARMM elections. Let’s see how fast she would reach for the phone and make the call to Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.
Or he can forget about that Saudi assignment and, for once, think of the country. How about telling the truth?
Agree. Tell the truth. It is the right thing to do. Wag kang magpabili kay GMA.
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