(Photo by TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The acquittal of former president now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from electoral fraud charges will allegedly “serve as inspiration to fraudster candidates this coming 2019 national elections, especially now that Mindanao is under martial law under control of the administration.”
This was the fear expressed by Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Ariel Casilao who, in a statement yesterday, said Arroyo’s acquittal was “not surprising” and that “while the court may acquit her, the people certainly know the truth that she is a national symbol of election fraud, as addition to her roster of involvement to plunder cases.”
Casilao recalled that Arroyo’s electoral case “involved the political family of Ampatuan in Maguindanao and its then provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol who committed a 12-0 victory for then Arroyo’s senatorial ticket under Team Unity.”
“Amid the ‘Hello Garci’ scandal in 2005, when Bedol was also mentioned by then Comelec commissioner Virgilo Garcillano as “our man (“tao natin”) and who would “prepare ways (“‘gagawa ng paraan”) for such victory,” Casilao said.
“The ‘Hello Garci’ scandal and ‘12-0’ plot in Maguindanao would surely serve as inspiration to fraudster candidates this coming 2019 national elections, especially now Mindanao is under martial law, all under control of the administration,” Casilao said.
Casilao said “Arroyo is becoming the most acquitted former president in the country, this latest following her acquittal by the Supreme Court in 2016 of the plunder case that involved the P366-million intelligence fund of the Philippine Charity and Sweepstake Office (PCSO).”
“She also has become blessed, rising from neck brace-wearing patient then suffering from serious ailment of hypoparathyroid and bone diseases during litigation, to an energetic house speaker who toppled her predecessor,” he added.
Casilao said “the people are already not surprised, and it is becoming normal for plunderers or fraudster to be acquitted under this administration, thus, we urge the electorate to be very vigilant in the coming national elections. The task of keeping it free and clean, from the interests of morally-bankrupt traditional politicians, is in our hands.”
