HOUSE SPEAKER: GMA ON HER OWN IF HOUSE PROBES / GMA WILL BE AT PROBE
MANILA, JULY 22, 2011 (MALAYA) BY WENDELL VIGILIA (REP. "Gloria Arroyo is on her own if the House committee on suffrage decides to hold its own inquiry into the allegations that she orchestrated massive electoral fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections", Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday.)
Belmonte said the former president could not seek protection from the House of Representatives if she is summoned by the committee or once she faces an arrest warrant from the court.
"Why should the House interfere in that (complaints against Mrs. Arroyo)? We have never interfered in the process of law. Whatever the law says, we will follow," said Belmonte.
The Speaker said the House must follow the rule of law even if the subject of the probe – called for by Bayan Muna Reps. Teddy Casiño and Neri Colmenares – is a former president.
"If we can summon an ordinary citizen, why not a member of Congress? We can't be above the law," he said.
Belmonte, however, said he is against the move to investigate the allegations of suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and former Maguindanao election official Lintang Bedol that Arroyo was the brains behind the poll fraud.
Bedol appeared in a TV interview Wednesday and corroborated claims of cheating in the 2007 senatorial elections made earlier by Ampatuan.
Belmonte said the issue should be brought to the Commission on Elections, the Department of Justice, and Office of the Ombudsman which can eventually file a case before the Sandiganbayan for a full-blown trial.
"I am personally against investigating it (poll fraud). We are not the best people to do that. Somebody should face the appropriate forums like the DoJ and Comelec," said Belmonte.
House majority leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said that based on House rules, Arroyo can be cited for contempt is she refuses to cooperate with the committee.
"Can the committee summon her? The answer is yes. Can any member of Congress be cited for contempt? Bakit hindi? Kung pupuwede sa ordinaryong tao, puwede rin sa amin (mga kongresista),"he said.
Gonzales said the only thing that can prevent the House from forcing a resource person to attend an inquiry is if that will incriminate (him or her) in a pending criminal case.
He said that in Arroyo's case, she cannot invoke her right against self-incrimination because a case in connection with the alleged electoral fraud has yet to be filed against her before the Sandiganbayan.
Arroyo is facing a plunder case in connection with alleged misuse of funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Sen. Francis Escudero filed a joint resolution asking both chambers of Congress to determine the real winners in the 2004 presidential race.
Under Senate Resolution No. 534 (SRN 534), Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, is seeking the creation of a fact-finding commission to look into the 2004 electoral fraud.
The probe body will be composed of a retired justice from the Supreme Court, who will be appointed by the President and will serve as chairperson; the secretary of the Department of Justice; a commissioner of the Commission on Elections to be chosen by the head of the poll body; the Ombudsman; and a senator and a representative to be named by the Senate President and the Speaker, respectively, as ex-officio members.
Escudero, who served as spokesman of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 elections, said the move will help bring closure to allegations of massive poll fraud that benefited Arroyo.
"The ghost of 2004 has continuously haunted our democratic system and electoral processes. We need to establish a fact-finding commission, define its powers and functions to enable it to make recommendations on who to recognize as the true fifteenth president of the republic," Escudero said. – With JP Lopez
'GMA will cooperate in probes' By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated July 21, 2011 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will answer all allegations of electoral fraud before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), her lawyer said yesterday.
Raul Lambino, Arroyo's legal spokesman, however lamented that up to now, all the allegations being hurled against the former president were only statements given to the media and snippets of unsigned affidavits. Lambino said the accusations were false and baseless.
Arroyo met with her lawyers yesterday but no one present at the meeting bared details of their discussions.
"Let's wait for the processes that would be embarked on by the Comelec and the DOJ, which, under the Constitution and the law, are the only ones authorized and have jurisdiction to conduct an investigation of alleged election irregularities," Lambino said.
"The former president and her husband have always been cooperative in answering allegations hurled against them by complainants and the government. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't. As I said, we will respond to the charges at the proper forum," he said.
He questioned the move of some militant lawmakers to push for a congressional inquiry into alleged cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections
"We don't see any value in the congressional investigations except to advance agenda of some personalities. Maybe some are congressmen who want to be elected or re-elected in 2013 and perhaps become president in 2016. It's a useless exercise that will waste our resources," Lambino said.
He also defended Arroyo's position not to issue any response to the allegations except through her lawyers, saying it would be better not to make statements because this would, one way or another, "telegraph our strategy."
Palace to Arroyo lawyer: Shut up
But Malacañang was not pleased with Lambino's pronouncement and has advised him to refrain from "politicizing" the electoral fraud case of his client. He should instead focus on how he could help save Arroyo from possible multiple indictments, the Palace said.
"He who alleges must prove it. If you have nothing to show, you better shut up," Secretary Edwin Lacierda, spokesman for President Aquino, said.
Lacierda said the burden of proof is on the side of Lambino, who earlier accused key officials of the Aquino government, particularly Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, of having a script and trying to stage manage Zaldy Ampatuan and Lintang Bedol as witnesses.
"Other than sound bite, Lambino doesn't know anything," Lacierda said, lamenting the "misdirection" the 2004 and 2007 poll fraud cases are heading, courtesy of machinations of Arroyo's lawyer.
He said Lambino is muddling and politicizing the issue because everybody knows who was in power during the last administration.
"It is because the noose is tightening (on the perpetrators of various offenses), so they are trying to thwart the situation," he said, adding this refers to everyone who may have a hand in several anomalies, which may include Arroyo.
Escudero wants fact-finding body on 2004 polls
Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero said that if ever the fact-finding commission he is proposing to determine the real winner of the 2004 elections pushes through, it will have the power to compel Arroyo to appear before it.
Escudero argued that the findings of the commission would not only clear up the issue on who was the true winner in the 2004 presidential elections, but could also be used in the filing of criminal cases by the appropriate body.
The senator has filed a joint resolution to create the commission that will investigate the 2004 elections, which were marred by allegations of cheating, specifically on the part of the former president who won a fresh six-year term that year.
Escudero said he expects the commission to invite Arroyo and if she refuses to attend then she could be compelled to do so through a subpoena.
The issue of electoral fraud in the 2004 elections was never given the proper closure because the electoral protest of the late actor-turned-politician Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) against Arroyo ended with his death and the probe into the "Hello, Garci" controversy was not concluded.
Wiretapped conversations between former Commission on Elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and several politicians during the 2004 election period indicated that there was widespread poll fraud committed to favor the bets of the administration, particularly Arroyo.
The former president never admitted to being one of the voices heard on the wiretaps and refused to answer allegations of poll fraud.
Her camp also cited the decision of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) on the electoral protest filed by Sen. Loren Legarda against former vice president Noli de Castro, which upheld the latter's victory in the 2004 polls.
Arroyo's camp previously stated that the PET's ruling had a direct impact on the electoral protest of Poe against Arroyo because the ballots covered were the same ones in her own case.
Escudero said that if ever Poe is found as the true winner by the commission, a symbolic gesture such as placing his portrait alongside the past presidents of the nation in Malacañang would already suffice to recognize the victory.
"There should be a clarification in the history books if necessary," he said.
However, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is not convinced that the creation of the commission would do any good now because Poe has already died and the term of Arroyo has expired.
Enrile also argued that the determination of the true winner of the 2004 elections would require that all ballots across the country be reopened and re-tabulated. "What is the purpose of the investigation, to punish? If it is only to punish for cheating in elections, the case of Maguindanao will be enough. If there was cheating there, that's a crime. The cheating in Maguindanao is separate from the cheating in Cagayan, cheating in Lanao, cheating in Batanes, cheating in Tawi-Tawi. Each one of those will be a separate crime. Any one of those where you are convicted, you will go to jail," Enrile said.
"When you determine the winner in an election, especially in a national election, you have to cover all the precincts. Not just Mindanao. Mindanao (alone) does not elect a president," he added. – Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy
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