The PCIJ is releasing for publication tomorrow a report on the cheating in Lanao del Sur in 2004. The report, done jointly with the TV program, "Probe," was based on the testimonies of two political operators who said they were funded by First Gentleman Jose Miguel ‘Mike’ Arroyo to rig the count in Lanao and other ARMM provinces.
The two operators, Lomala Macadaub and Abdul Wahab Batugan of the Lanao del Sur Unity Movement for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said that their group was behind alleged dagdag-bawas (vote-padding and –shaving) operations in the province, as well as in Sultan Kudarat, Sulu and Tawi Tawi.
These operators say that their tasks included talking to, and paying off, elections officers to reverse the ratio of the votes in the president’s favor. Sometimes, they admitted, they altered the certificates of canvass (COCs) themselves, thus explaining the disparity in the results in the election returns and the COCs.
The results of the Lanao count in 2004 are considered one of the most controversial in an election that has been marred by allegations of fraud. These allegations surfaced again recently, with the Senate testimony of Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, the Marine general who was relieved of his position as head of Task Force Ranao two days after the election last year.
This article provides new information on what took place in Lanao in May 2004 and sheds new light on the extent of the fraud there.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: Here's what one NAMFREL official had to say.
Hadji Abdullah Dalidig, Namfrel provincial chairman, said that the 2004 presidential polls was the "worst and dirtiest" of the five elections he has monitored in Lanao del Sur. "What was done to the votes at the presidential level, even grade one children would know the votes of the other candidates were sabotaged," he said.
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