RELAMPAGOS |
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MANILA.
Former Gov. Rene Relampagos, who ran for congressman
in the third district during the last elections alleged
aberrations of elections results in the towns of Loay
and Sierra Bullones may have altered the final result
of the third congressional race.
This
was the statement issued by Relampagos after documents
showed of the alleged aberrations of the May 14 elections
in the 3rd district in which newcomer Rep. Adam Jala,
son of former Rep. Eladio Jala, was declared by the
Commission on Elections as winner.
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Jala
garnered 65,081 votes against 62,106 votes of Relampagos.
The
former governor who few weeks after the elections insinuated
to bid goodbye to politics resurrected the alleged election
anomaly after documents gathered revealed some irregularities
which were not taken into consideration by the local election
board.
Comelec
Supervisor Atty. Veronico Petalcorin could not be reached
for comments who was out of town when contacted last Friday.
Text messages from the Chronicle failed to get reply from
the Comelec official.
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It
maybe recalled that the young Jala has repeatedly denied
fraud committed in the congressional race while saying
that he left it to the Comelec to decide on some complaints
raised by Relampagos shortly before he was proclaimed
as the duly elected 3rd dist congressman last May.
Direct,
testimonial and circumstantial data gathered by the
Chronicle Research, however, seem to show that in the
two towns of Sierra Bullones and Loay, Relampagos may
have been a victim of the infamous "Dagdag-Bawas"
method of electoral fraud.
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DAGDAG:
SIERRA BULLONES
It
was noted that an unusually high percentage of the Board of
Election Officers (BOE) like the Chairman, Poll Clerk and
the Third Member were changed in the 3rd District compared
to the two other districts.
In
Sierra Bullones alone, 51% of the Board of Election Officers
were changed immediately prior to the elections with (28%)
of the Chairmen, (33%) of the Poll Clerks and (75%) of the
Third Member changed. In Sierra Bullones Mayor Simplicio Maestrado's
barrio (Abacahan) - in 2 of the 6 precincts - the entire BOE
was changed; in the remaining 4 precincts - 2 of the 3 Election
Officers were changed.
Changes
in the BOE are supposed to be advised to candidates so that
the reasons for the changes and the qualifications of the
replacements do not violate the rules of the Omnibus Election
Code. These changes were reportedly not reported to the Relampagos
camp.
There
are fears that not just in Sierra Bullones but in other towns
as well, the new BOE members may suffer disqualification for
lack of qualifications.
The
Election Officer of the town Fe Julita Lao, originally stationed
in Corella, was re-assigned to Sierra Bullones allegedly upon
request of the Mayor. (This was the second time she was re-assigned
to the town of Sierra Bullones during the election period.
The first one was in 2004 where there were reports that voting
in some remote barrios lasted until 10 o'clock in the evening.)
(Then
gubernatorial candidate Rene Relampagos did not raise a howl
of protest over alleged irregularities in the 2004 polls.)
Lao,
however, clarified that it is the Provincial Election Officers
(Petalcorin in 2007 and Odtohan in 2004) who did the reshuffling
of town election heads often during the election period. She
admitted she was the 2004 and 2007 Sierra Bullones town Election
Officer -citing that she did not accept the assignment in
Dimiao earlier in 2007 - because she was "not familiar"
with the territory.
Further,
she said it was her predecessor Mario Lozano who made the
changes in the composition of the BOE. Lozano told the Chronicle
he could not remember if he was responsible for all the changes
in the BOE. He reported back to Sierra Bullones in June -
right after the May 2007 elections. Lao went to another assignment.
"MAGUINDANAO
OF BOHOL"
Sierra
Bullones is reputed to be the "Maguindanao of Bohol"
where no clean and free elections are held in some sitios
except in the Poblacion area where candidates Jala and Relampagos
had a close fight.
Notoriously
known to deliver "command votes" are the 10 infamous
barangays: Cahayag, Casilay, San Isidro, Abacahan, Nan-od,
Cantaub, Danicorp, Magsaysay and Dusita. There are widespread
reports that during election day itself, voters were "detoured"
to a high-ranking town official (not the Mayor) for further
"instructions."
A
town representative of a PPCRV commented: "Walay pili-ay
sa amo-a, sa Poblacion lang." Indeed prior to elections,
the HNU Survey showed that a high 90% of those surveyed in
Sierra Bullones were reluctant to voice as to "who their
preference will be on election day."
INDECENT
DELAY
The
town canvass took an unusually long process - Sierra Bullones
becoming the second to the last town to canvass at the Provincial
Board of Canvassers. The unofficial results also kept changing
for Jala while that of Relampagos allegedly remained the same.
In fact, the final Jala votes are not identical as shown below:
Certificate
of Votes - 6,306
Election Returns - 6,371
Certificate of Canvass - 6,378
Also,
despite repeated requests, Relampagos said, he was given a
copy of the Sierra Bullones results only after the Provincial
Canvass had already ended. He said the copy he got was hardly
readable and had to be reconstructed in order to make sense.
Observers
noted that the town mayor and former Congressman Eladio Jala
were often seen at the canvassing area conversing with Election
Officer Lao.
There
are allegations, likewise, that Sierra Bullones town mayor
Maestrado and former Congressman Jala are partners in a printing
corporation based in Manila - thus their close affiliation.
Efforts
to contact Mayor Maestrado proved futile as he was reportedly
in an official trip to Cebu City while his secretary accompanied
Bureau of Mines personnel in a mountain area in town.
BAWAS:
TOWN OF LOAY
A
"manifest error" cited by the Relampagos camp at
the Provincial Canvassing was merely "noted" by
the election officers. The illustration found elsewhere in
this article clearly shows a discrepancy in the figures for
Relampagos and Jala as indicated in the Certificate of Votes
and the Certificate of Canvass.
Interesting
to note is that both reports contain the thumbprints and signatures
of the same election officers but showing different figures.
The Certificate of Votes is also handwritten while the Certificate
of Canvass is neatly typewritten and released immediately
after the town canvass.
Some
people are suspecting that the. typewritten version was prepared
well before the actual counting of votes.
As
a result, ex-Governor Relampagos lost 965 votes (from 4,083
votes to 3,118 votes) while Rep. Adam Jala gained an additional
481 votes (from 1,777 votes to 2,258 votes).
This
translates into a huge "swing" vote of 1,446 votes
in favor of Rep. Jala.
Relampagos
believes that even not counting the other irregularities in
the other towns, the aberrations in the two towns of Sierra
Bullones and Loay alone would have altered, as they did, the
result of the 3rd district congressional elections.
VOTE
BUYING AND COERCION
Other
forms of irregularities in the other towns included vote-buying
and intimidation. Reports from Lila town showed some voters
were forced to carry two sample ballots with a carbon paper.
The
first sample ballot was for "co de go" to ensure
proper guidance and the other would carry the proof (carbon-copied)
that the voters delivered as they were paid for or threatened
against.
The
gentle persuasion side was reportedly P300 for the congressman
and all the way up to P800 for the gubernatorial and senatorial
candidates.
LEGACY
OF ELECTORAL CHANGE
Candidate
Relampagos who seems to have all but lost interest in the
way politics is being conducted in this country, is not filing
a protest due to the futility and vast expenses involved and
with no clear resolution assured.
Rene
Relampagos, is making these disclosures public, he said, to
ensure that electoral shenanigans are not committed in the
future especially with enough vigilance of a better informed
citizenry.
He
charged that Provincial Election Officer Petalcorin continuously
and deliberately refused to sign and issue the TSN of the
proceedings of the canvass and thus prevent him from filing
for the annulment of Jala's proclamation. By just "noting"
and not "acting" on the protests (supposedly within
48 hours) of the questioned COCs - this deprived the ex-Governor
of "his due process."
Provincial
EO Petalcorin could be held criminally and administratively
liable for this violation, according to his lawyers.
Petalcorin,
who was once a "Youth for Aumentado" leader in the
past, could not be reached for comment as the Chronicle was
told he was out of town by the Comelec Provincial Office.
LASTING
ELECTORAL REFORMS
The
lessons picked up in the Chronicle Research are that intimidated
"command votes", arbitrary changes of election officers
without due notice to all parties, vote-buying and coercion,
undue influence of the powers-that-be on election officials
and the "magic" mechanism in the tally of votes
resulting in "dagdag-bawas" - are aberrations that
should be exterminated like termites in the next electoral
process.
Those
are essential in making authentic democracy work through clean
suffrage. It is a requisite "first step" in making
the "voice of the people" truly the "voice
of God."
For
Comments: email to
bingo_dejaresco@boholchronicle.com Or editor@boholchronicle.com
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