Raiders of Loren’s ark

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Raiders of Loren’s ark
Sunday, 08 21, 2005

The raid of combined police and military operatives on the workplace of Segundo Tabayoyong in San Mateo, Rizal, at dawn last Wednesday exposes the nasty proclivity of this government to use strong-arm tactics to scare witnesses arrayed against the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de Castro tandem.

Tabayoyong had holed up in San Mateo to analyze the election paraphernalia that the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) had received as the dominant minority party during the last elections. The results of his analyses were to be presented before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) in the protest cases filed by the late Fernando Poe, Jr. and his runningmate Loren Legarda.

The evidence in the hands of Legarda, the surviving protestant in the cases before the PET, were very damning, enough to send Noli de Castro back to reading the news off an idiot board. In addition, they are corroborative of several snatches of conversation in the Garci Tapes, especially where the phone exchanges concern the massive fraud in Mindanao. In short, the evidence could spell victory for Legarda on the one hand, and guaranteed impeachment for Mrs. Arroyo on the other.

In one swift operation, with full media coverage, those pieces of evidence were taken away from Tabayoyong. Illegally confiscated from him were the last remaining election paraphernalia he had yet to analyze. More importantly, copies of his analysis reports were spirited away. The brains behind the raid must have thought Arroyo and de Castro could hold on to power, with the evidence of the truth to be used against them now practically at their disposal for refutation and obliteration. Luckily, Tabayoyong himself was not around during the raid; otherwise he himself, given the trigger-happy fingers of our “raiders” these days, would have been obliterated too.

The raid and its aftermath have telltale signs of a coordinated and determined effort to thwart the truth one more time, and impute it to the Opposition. Hardly a second had passed after the video of the raid was aired and here comes that effusive lawyer claiming that the factory of the Opposition for the production of fake election paraphernalia had been uncovered. The whole day of Wednesday we were treated to the spectacle of this lawyer spewing this unadulterated crap. He must think Filipinos are that stupid to fall for that inane line.

The overlords of the raiders have stolen the truth once again. What they managed to hide through a tyranny of numbers during the national canvass last year, they will never want disclosed even before the PET in a fair and open proceeding.

What overwhelms one with outrage over this strong-arm tactic is the complete disregard of the law and the rights of persons. The break-in was conducted without a warrant, at dawn, with the use of brute force. Tabayoyong was away when his house was invaded - and as sure as the media was not looking, what could be a more convenient time for the raiders to implement that oft-repeated scenario of planting evidence! Sure enough, they “discovered” a firearm and several rounds of ammunitions wrongly imputed to Tabayoyong. Anak ng pekeng Pidal! What for would a sickly, old man need a firearm?

We are led to believe that the raid was in response to a call for help from somebody claiming to be the owner of the house. This lame excuse simply does not wash. And so the following disturbing questions must be answered: Why conduct the raid at dawn? Why not apply first for a search warrant? And why seize the election paraphernalia rightfully belonging to Legarda and the Opposition? Since when has possession of these paraphernalia been a crime? Why is the return of these documents being delayed, notwithstanding the affirmation of the San Mateo election officer that they are genuine, legitimate and belonging to the KNP? And why does DILG Secretary Reyes haughtily declare that he would not release these documents to anyone, when he should have the good sense to return them to Legarda and Tabayoyong?

The more the superiors of the raiders open their mouths, the more fetid and offensive their breaths become from all that lying. For instance: they claim that among the election returns confiscated were those from Cebu. Crap and double crap!! I cannot believe this, knowing fully well that Tabayoyong had already examined the election returns from Cebu in the course of the national canvass last year, and that they are now safely cached somewhere, although a copy of the analyses report on Cebu was among those taken by the raiding team. Why did they have to include Cebu, if not to expediently substitute their own version of the Cebu ERs in order to discredit the analyses of Tabayoyong? Remember that the 30,000 excess ERs printed by Ernest Printing have yet to be accounted for. Remember, too, and be very aware that the Garci Tapes mentioned Cebu. Are we now to expect the production of another set of ERs for Cebu, in a manner very much like a Ruado version of the Garci Tapes, which was mysteriously pulled out of thin air to confuse us all the more?

Reminiscent of that old Harrison Ford movie, the San Mateo raiders have clearly violated the domain of Tabayoyong and carried off the contents of Loren’s ark. They will answer for the raid. Their superiors who refuse to return the contents of that ark of election covenant are obstructing justice. They will be answerable too - and I hope not before God, but from an outraged, cheated electorate.

It is interesting to note that the raid has spawned a downside in reverse. Legarda’s quest for vindication in her electoral protest has been given a favorable dimension way beyond the farthest reaches of her expectations. This bungled raiding operation has exposed all the more the paucity of the evidence in support of de Castro’s votes. The PET can hardly ignore the impact of the raid, in relation to the delaying tactics of de Castro’s lawyers. And the Opposition pursuing the impeachment will now have a heyday capitalizing on the election documents - that visual proof of an electorate’s sacred right of suffrage - which the raiders stole from Loren’s ark.


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