How Cebu was won

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

How Cebu was won

Sunday, 06 26, 2005

First, a flash back: As appearing in the certificates of canvass (CoCs), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo garnered 965,630 votes in Cebu Province and 220,060 in Cebu City, while Fernando Poe, Jr. was credited with 123,099 in the province and 58,591 in the city. GMA’s votes in Cebu alone negated the advantage that FPJ had in 75 percent of the provinces and cities throughout the country.

The Minority had every right and all the proof to question these incredible figures for GMA. Investigations pointed to wholesale fraud. Unfortunately, the National Board of Canvassers, determined to ram through the proclamation of GMA, perfunctorily dismissed the claim.

June 21, 2005. Enter Cebu Representative Clavel Martinez: Martinez regrets that she supported GMA. Not content in claiming that she is certain the voices in the Garci Tapes are those of GMA and a poll commissioner, Martinez is now threatening to come out with the tape that will be a “tell-all” on how Cebu was won for GMA.

Coming from a supporter of GMA in the last elections, whatever might be her motives, given the murky twists and turns of local politics in Cebu, Martinez validates what everyone has been claiming: That Cebu made a President through means most foul.

The True Report of the Minority on the national canvass outlines the badges of fraud in Cebu, and is assiduously perceptive enough to mention the following:

There is a marked similarity in the signatures of watchers on election documents in different towns far apart from each other. So how does one explain away the common, distinguishing features in the signatures of two watchers separate and away from each other - one in Carmen, the other in Ronda; one in Sta. Fe, the other in Liloan; one in Alcantara, the other in Samboan . . . the list of pairs runs on.

The CoCs were prepared by different persons, as can be concluded from even just a cursory examination of the unmatched handwritings in these documents. Examples: the entries on pages 1-2 of the Malabuyoc CoC were made by one person, while page 3 was filled up by another; page 1 of the Alcantara CoC had the distinct handwriting of one person, while pages 2-3 thereof had the distinct style of yet another person. Ditto for CoCs in Sibonga, Bogo, and other towns.

And how does one explain away the incongruity of one set of COC with three pages having different handwritten and typewritten entries? Page 1 of the Borbon CoC had handwritten entries, while pages 2-3 were done on a typewriter. In the Barili CoC, page 1 is written in capital letters, while pages 2-3 are in lower case. Page 2 of the Daanbantayan CoC contains handwritten entries while its page 1 and page 3 are typewritten. The list goes on.

And how does one explain away the dissimilarity of signatures in the same set of election documents? For example, page 1 of the Badian CoC contains the signatures of four witnesses which in no way are similar to the signatures of the watchers on pages 1-2.

And how does one explain away the different entries for members of the Boards of Canvassers, the use of different fonts, different thumbmarks, or different colors of ink for thumbmarks? The True Report records that only one typewriter appears to have been used - meaning, the same font, same impression, same color, same jumps - for 26 towns and cities. A harried election cheat must have been pounding like hell on one greatly abused typewriter in one central factory somewhere before the elections!

Remember the oft-repeated prayer to look beyond the CoCs? A sampling made in the True Report revealed thus: In Mandaue, candidate Noli de Castro gained 15,231 more votes in the Statement of Votes (SOV) than in the ERs. In Aloguinsan, GMA gained 6,633 more votes in the SOV than in the ERs. And many more. The True Report goes on to state that “it is evident that the votes of candidates FPJ and Legarda were systematically decreased while the votes for administration candidates Arroyo and de Castro were increased.”

And the ERs? An expert made the revelation thus: the ERs for Cebu were not prepared at the precinct level, but elsewhere, where they were manufactured. Worse, their features look stunningly similar to the ERs for Pampanga, Iloilo and Bohol, provinces where GMA and de Castro also incredibly won big.

Ordinarily, ERs are prepared separately at the precinct level, resulting in dissimilarities from one to the other. These ERs show the hurried-effect of the writing process on the tally bars, and they are not prepared in a continuous fashion on account of the distended pace of counting the votes as ballots are appreciated.

But in Cebu, the ERs show similar writing patterns, neatly prepared in sets, as shown by the similarity in tally bars, their structural patterns and manner of execution. The tally bars show a regular and continuing manner of preparation. And, many of the supposed authenticating thumbmarks contain artistic modifications or designs, indicating that whoever prepared the ERs had the luxury of time and the convenience of space to prepare them, instead of under the usual “time and space restraints” obtaining at the precinct level.

The conclusion from all these? There was a factory somewhere for election documents, made operational well ahead of election day.

The mea culpa of Martinez should not be dismissed as mere ranting of a double-crossed political ally wanting to get even. There is basis for her contrition. The tape of Martinez, taken together with the mountain of evidence of the Minority, should validate the claim that Cebu - to borrow the words of Senator Pimentel - is the Vatican of electoral fraud.

A certain program over the radio daily startles its listeners with the cry, “Puuukaw na mooo!” To which we should probably add: “Mao na ni ang daya ni Gloria!”


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