JUSTICE DE LIMA SAYS NO TO ABALOS AS POLL FRAUD PROSECUTION WITNESS
MANILA, OCTOBER 4, 2011 (STAR) By Edu Punay - The Department of Justice (DOJ) opposed the bid of former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos (photo) to become a prosecution witness in the election sabotage case filed against a former election supervisor who implicated him in alleged cheating in the 2007 senatorial polls in Mindanao.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday said the electoral sabotage case lodged against former South Cotabato election supervisor Lilian Radam before the Pasay City regional trial court "is back to square one."
Radam and another government witness, former North Cotabato poll supervisor Yogie Martirizar, tagged Abalos in the 2007 poll fraud.
"Abalos cannot just try to go around it by offering himself as a 'witness' against Radam and Martirizar. It's actually a battle of credibility," she said in a text message when asked for her reaction on the former Comelec chief's offer.
De Lima believes the move could just be a ploy to "escape possible indictment," adding that Abalos is still considered a "probable respondent" in the joint DOJ and Comelec investigation into the 2007 poll anomalies.
"Their (Radam's and Martirizar's) pointing to former chairman Abalos, a big fish at that, as the instigator of the rigging of the 2007 senatorial results, is a serious and crucial allegation that deserves utmost consideration," she stressed.
The two were charged with electoral sabotage by the Comelec under Abalos' term.
But they surfaced last month and accused Abalos of ordering the poll rigging operations in their respective provinces.
"What is clear is that the ongoing joint investigation throws wide open the allegations both old and new poll fraud in the 2004 and 2007 national elections. With the right environment now for truth and accountability and with first hand witnesses coming out in the open free from intimidation, undue pressure and other improper influences, it's back to square one for the cases involving Radam and Martirizar," De Lima said.
The DOJ and Comelec are expected to present today an "explosive witness" linking former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to cheating in the 2007 elections.
doj-comelec PRESENTs 15 witnesses IN POLL FRAUD
The joint panel of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) today presented 15 election officers from Maguindanao province, who will stand as witnesses to the alleged massive election fraud in 2007.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said that he will present later another witness, who has allegedly implicated in his affidavit former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2007 poll cheating operations.
Brillantes said that the witness have admitted to heading an operation to manipulate results of the 2007 senatorial elections in favor of candidates of the then Arroyo administration's ticket, Team Unity.
The poll chief said that the 15 municipal election officers are witnesses to the massive election cheating in 2007.
He said that based on the affidavits of the witnesses, the election returns canvassed at the provincial level in 2007 were doctored and prepared "elsewhere."
"They (original election returns from the municipal level) were taken away from them (municipal election officers) and prepared elsewhere," Brillantes said.
He said that the massive cheating resulted to the 12-0 win of Team Unity against opposition candidates under the Genuine Opposition ticket.
He said that doctored results from Maguindanao placed Ilocos Sur Gov. Chavit Singson in the No. 1 spot for senatorial candidates. Resigned senator Miguel Zubiri was part of Team Unity, while recently-installed Sen. Koko Pimentel was a member of the Genuine Opposition.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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