“Pinpoint the mastermind behind the Hello Garci scandal and prosecute all those who participated in this shameless act”. These are the exact words of deposed former president and convicted plunderer, Joseph “Erap” Estrada regarding allegations of cheating in the 2004 Presidential elections. His statement reeks of vendetta. It seemed like a good idea then, but former President and now Congresswoman Gloria Arroyo must be regretting her decision to pardon Erap now.
Garci already appeared before a Congressional inquiry in 2005.
We all know that it was former President Gloria Arroyo who took over the Presidency after Erap was deposed. The House of Representatives back in 2005 already wasted a lot of their time “investigating” the alleged cheating scandal involving Arroyo and her cohort former Comelec commissioner Virgilio “Hello Garci” Garcillano but it resulted in nothing more than a failed impeachment procedure and a disorganized “People Power” led by the late former President Cory Aquino.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
Now it seems that Senator Francis Escudero wants to waste more of the taxpayer’s time and money by mounting a futile battle. In his own words, Escudero said, “We just want to set the record straight” and “We are doing this not because we are after [Arroyo]. We just want to know who won, so we can correct history”.
If setting the record straight is the only thing he is after, he just needs to look at the records in Congress about the said investigation that was held. They couldn’t even convince Garcillano to show up for the occasion so why even bother? The odds of probers pulling another “star witness” out of a hat after all these years is, suffice to say, quite slim.
Yet somehow they have. Escudero suddenly found a “renewed allegation of poll fraud” made by former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and election officer Lintang Bedol who is also implicating Arroyo in the alleged electoral fraud in the 2007 election in Mindanao. It is not difficult to understand why after being silent for several years, the two are willing to talk. Could it have something to do with the charges currently being made against them?
And besides, if Escudero is not really after Arroyo and if they really want to uncover electoral fraud, why stop at the 2004 Presidential election?
We all know that the first automated polls held in 2010 did not stop all the talk of alleged electoral fraud that has come to haunt every election held in the Philippines. In fact, Erap who came second in the race was one of the presidential candidates who cried foul immediately after the election last year. In a news item dated a week after the 10th of May election, his lawyer was adamant they had strong evidence to support election fraud:
George Garcia, Estrada’s lawyer, said yesterday the compact flash cards used in the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines might have been pre-programmed to make certain candidates win.
“We have strong evidence that there were flash cards that were pre-programmed to reflect desired results instead of real results or real votes,” he said.”
Garcia said they will submit the evidence of irregularities to Congress when it convenes as a National Board of Canvassers on May 31.
“The duty of Congress is not ministerial, it is not mechanical,” he said. “Their duty is to find out the truth and protect the sovereign will and voice of the Filipino people.”
Indeed. But even calls by the second most popular political figure in the country could not do anything to unravel the mystery behind who really won the presidential election in 2010. Unfortunately, the media played a big role in dampening calls for a thorough “investigation” of the matter. In a previous article, I wrote:
“Presidential candidate Nick Perlas has issued a letter warning people to be more discerning about what the media is reporting. This is an excerpt from his letter:
Beware and Overcome Media Manipulation
Nicanor Perlas
21 May 2010Readers beware! If you want to get the truth regarding the recent national elections, go beyond what you get from the mainstream media. Do your own research. Check the facts on the ground. Ask what your friends experienced. Connect the dots yourself. Come to your own conclusion. In this way, you will protect your mind from being manipulated by unseen powers that lurk behind the country’s media establishment.
Immediately after the May 10, 2010 elections, the Filipino public was brainwashed with stories about a stunningly successful election.” ‘Birth pains’ of poll automation over”. “Fast count stuns nation”. “Stocks surge as markets cheer successful elections”. “Villar conceding proves Comelec credible”. “Take a bow, Filipino voters”. “US, EU praise RP for elections; peso, markets buoyed”. “Comelec proves critics wrong”. “Filipinos carry on love affair with PCOS machines”.
Most Filipinos would readily dismiss Perlas as a sore loser but a growing number of thinking Filipinos are calling for the reinvestigation of the 2010 election. Another group calling themselves Tanggulang Demokrasya (Tan Dem) claims that “cheating was at its gravest during the 2010 national and local elections”:
Tanggulang Demokrasya (Tan Dem) claimed that results of the May 2010 elections were clouded by serious doubts because of grave election law violations by the Comelec and operational glitches in the automated system.
TanDem is a network of information technology experts, overseas Filipino professionals, political reform advocates, onshore citizens and taxpayers groups calling for the comprehensive review of last year’s polls.
“While we hail the move to revisit the 2004 and 2007 elections, the review process should go beyond. The 2010 elections should also be scrutinized,” the group said.
It believed that the safeguards in the automated system used in last year’s elections were illegally disregarded and election returns were deliberately left without signatures, opening the electoral process and results to fraud that undermined the legitimacy of the poll results.
Some of these were the suspension of the digital signature of the Board of Elections Inspectors (BEI); the suspension of the use of the Ultraviolet Scanners, which were designed to authenticate the ballots being fed into Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines; the suspension of the PCOS function to show on the screen the voter’s ballots, instead of merely the word “Congratulations”; and the disregard of the law’s provision on “data retention” when the Comelec destroyed memory and compact flash cards as early as May 15, 2010.
The problem is, since members of the Supreme Court are considered luddites or among those who fear technology, they are slow to act on any petition that challenges the legitimacy of the election results. They did order the Comelec to compel Smartmatic TIM to make public the source codes used to run and operate the equipment. They simply refused and that was that.
Even a Senate investigation last year of how Smartmatic TIM conducted the 2010 elections, failed to provide clear answers as the company evaded questions on how the PCOS machines work. It is obvious they could get away with it because the Senators are hopelessly inept at making sense of the technical jargon.
Allegations of election fraud in 2010 fell on deaf ears. They were immediately dismissed as sour grapping even when more than one whistleblower came to speak out. According to a news item from The Daily Tribune:
The 4th whistleblower was interviewed by ABS-CBN reporter Sheryl Mundo and shown on TV Patrol, saying that the votes of Gilbert Teodoro were shaved by 5 million, Erap Estrada by 4 million and Eddie Villanueva by 2 to 3 million. The unidentified whistleblower’s video was presented by Buddy Cunanan, son of Belinda Cunanan and a Manila Times columnist at a CBCP forum. He said their cheating scheme was planned and in place three months before the elections and they were offering guaranteed votes at P20 per vote. At least seven candidates have already revealed that they were offered guaranteed votes by brokers representing the syndicate.
Cheating during elections in the Philippines is nothing new. The People’s International Observers Mission, in a press conference on the conduct of the 2010 elections in the Philippines, revealed that the “clean” and “smooth” election reported by the media was not what they saw. Even with the automated polling machines, serious and systematic irregularities were rampant as in every election ever held:
– Vote buying
– No privacy in polling stations
– Strong police and military presence inside polling stations.
– Party workers inside the polling centres usually filling in the forms for the voters
– Strong intimidation and harassment by the military and civilians who have no business being in the polling stations.
If Senator Escudero and Erap really want to find the mastermind behind the election fraud, they ought to include finding the mastermind behind those irregularities as well because it has become accepted as part of every election scene. Otherwise, most rational people would assume they are just after Arroyo.
In life, things are not always what they seem.
sheesh its going to be like the pcgg and the hunt for marco’s ill gotten wealth again….
Oh yeah, whatever happened to that? 😉
“Otherwise, most rational people would assume they are just after Arroyo.”
Color me irrational.
Strategically, if I wanted to change the course of a nation and show the people who put me in office that I was serious about my campaign promise, I would certainly go after the “big name” targets as well as the substantial and even work my way down to the minor, publicizing the hell out of each investigation, each indictment, each conviction (and burying the non-successes under a mountain of obfuscation). I wouldn’t skip the juicy targets over some sense of balance or historical propriety. The objective would be to hammer the public and the public servants into believing it is a new ball game. I would not slip slide my way around cases to avoid irritating bloggers, or engage in the corruption of letting people scoot free because they are popular or friends of the Church. I’d realize I have only one shot to make a difference, and, by God, I’d pull out all the stops.
Frankly, I hope he gets some stunning hits – big names, and substantial names, and even a slew of minor ones – and succeeds in changing the corrupt foundation of an entire culture.
What is your better, alternative way to change the corrupt foundation of an entire culture?
What is your better, alternative way to change the corrupt foundation of an entire culture?
short answer: take them all on, even the ones that happen to be hiding under his skirt (i.e., the people under his wing who screw up). this way he won’t be just self-servingly going after political opponents while providing blanket protection for his own band of rats.
what is your “better”, alternative way to change the corrupt foundation of an entire culture, joe? cut pnoy a break? call me hellspawn? mmmmmwah.
Absolutely. While they are at it, they can also investigate the cheating allegations against FVR by Miriam Defensor and the 2010 elections.
sure. you got a witness thats willing 2 go forward? some evidence?
P, Take out your smart-assed attitude, which is about as unnecessarily rude as I have experienced, next to that AP twit jetski or whatever his name was, set it aside, and I agree with you.
and what makes you think your highness is that lucky, joe? does it look like i care whether you agree with me or not?
Ok.
hahahaha
nice one, ilda. bullseye!
damn that was elegant.
This is what is known as Filipino humor? It reminds me of when I was in the 7th grade and small cliques would gather around . . . for mutual strength, for they did not have any standing alone . . . snorting at fart jokes.
That wasn’t an attempt at humor Joe. I just happen to agree with what you said.
you’ve got serious childhood issues, joe. don’t bring ’em here. take them to a shrink.
It’s like a person that is a “kleptomaniac”…he wants to know why he has the urge to steal. Election Frauds have been common in the Philippines…other nations do it also. Voters are also threathened by candidates private armies and goons. To assure the one who hired them win. Or they will cheat also in the counting…
From Aguinaldo cheating Bonifacio. To Marcos and Enrile, cheating their opponents…to Gloria Arroyo cheating to win…to the questionable results of the SMARTMATIC Machine…It’s just a waste of time to invesrigate…The only way we can do is: (1) to have a voting system that is secured from fraud. (2) to assure that the will of the voters are not compromised by goons, gold and guns…
Yes. It’s just a waste of time Hyden. They should find more productive things to do with their time. Since they won’t be prosecuting anyway, they might as well take note of how it happened and be more vigilant in the next election.
Gosh, I actually suggested to the Philippine embassy personnel I met in Kyoto for Gloria to cheat just to make sure the country would not be led by an action star without political experience. I was quite glad FPJ did not win and now the media are saying they want to hang a picture of FPJ in Malacanang, what bullshit!!!
did u suggest in jest?
or do u believe that cheating is warranted?
blessing in disguise yung pandaraya ni arroyo. FPJ? Lmao.
Well it seems that in the Philippines, the less intelligent candidates do not need to cheat. Only the intelligent candidates need the help of the “adjustment bureau” because most Pinoys will vote for the former. 🙂
FPJ probably as a person was good…but to run this kind of country with this kind of politics…he wasn’t qualified. And I was aware that he was just being used by his “closed” friend for him to get back to the power, got this from a man who passed away and was a straight and loyal to him but he was more concern for our country, too bad he didn’t make it to his 2nd bypass, he died 3 months before FPJ. Between FPJ and Gloria, she is more qualified. CHEATING?? I grew up with this already! And i believe the last election was worst! Saw a lot of votes from my district that the machine didn’t accept, the operator can’t explain it too…but those votes for sure were not for Aquino, bec. I saw it with my two round eyes.
Cheating has become a way of life and has become acceptable in the Philippines, unfortunately. Which is why most Pinoy cannot differentiate between what is right and what’s wrong anymore.
Election fraud did not just happen in 2004, it happened in other elections too!
July 24, 2011….Yes, it is absolutely true..This is the game of the oligarch…They are the one controlling in every election, just to make sure that their puppet( candidate) must win.
A lot of people believe that too.
That’s a fallacy certain people like to float.
The 2004 elections maybe fraud-laden like other elections in the past but what distinguishes and set it apart from previous elections is the fact that a president was caught communicating with an election official regarding election matters which is prohibited under the law.
Your comment is a bit off. Do you or do you not agree that “Election fraud did not just happen in 2004, it happened in other elections too”?
I don’t think it’s off. Like I said, the 2004 elections is just like the other past elections EXCEPT in 2004 the people were shocked to learn through recorded audio, between the president and an election official, that gave the impression of the probability that the election was fixed or fraud was committed.
What’s your point?
Gloria cheated to win and loot the countrys treasury
My point was, the elections in 2004 may have been the same like the previous elections, in terms of fraud or cheating, but the Garci tapes made the difference for it put the president on the spot in relation to allegations of cheating.
What’s the real difference?
@fishball: And other presidents before GMA never did? HERP DERP! The problem is the SYSTEM!