Gov. Albert “Abet” Garcia called on their political rivals to support his sister Dinalupihan Mayor Maria Angela “Gila” Garcia who, he said, won by landslide against former provincial Board Member Jose Alejandre “Jojo” Payumo.
Jojo, also the former mayor, said they were only after the truth to come out: “Susuporta kami kung mapapatunayan na hindi sila nandaya, hindi pinalitan ang balota at naging tama ang pagbasa ng PCOS machines (We will support once it is proven that there was no cheating, no substitution of ballots and the reading of the results in the PCOS machines was right).”
Results of the 2013 polls showed Gila winning by 18,000 votes over Jojo. After the revision of the ballots in a manual count unanimously approved by seven members of the First Division of the Commission on Elections, Gila’s margin reportedly rose by some 1,000 votes.
The governor said the Payumos got their wish of having a manual count. “Lumalabas ngayon na lumaki pa ang lamang ni Mayor Gila, so ano pa gusto nilang katibayan. Kung talagang mahal nila ang bayan, sumuporta na lamang sila sa magagandang programa para mas marami tayong magawa (It showed that the winning margin of Mayor Gila even increased, so what more proof do they want.
If they really love Dinalupihan, they should support the good programs so we can do more),” he said.
Abet said the Payumos claim of substitution of new ballots needed a massive conspiracy to do. “Sabi nila nadaya sila sa automation pero itinuturo nila problema sa pagkakasalansan ng balota na walang kinalaman sa automation (They said they were cheated in automation but they are pointing problems on how the ballots were arranged that has nothing to do with automation),” he said.
“Nasunod na gusto nila kaya tapusin na sana nila ito at tumulong na lamang para sa development ng bayan (Their wish was granted so they should stop and help us in the development of the community),” the governor repeatedly appealed.
Gila said her rival pointed to the PCOS machines as the source of cheating so they requested for a manual count.
She said that every day in the revision of the ballots, the results of the PCOS and manual count were almost similar except for some minor difference. “Pagkakaisa kailangan natin.
Napakaraming suliranin, maraming oportunidad, magsama- sama na tayo, magtulungan para sa ikagaganda ng bayan (We need unity. There are many problems and so with opportunities, let us just support each other for the good of the people),” the lady mayor said.
TRO
Jojo said the governor claimed that they got their wish. “Pero dumaan kami sa butas ng karayom at hanggang sa huli ay nag-file pa sila ng TRO upang hindi matuloy ang bilangan. Nasunod ang gusto namin na buksan dahil inilaban namin (But we passed the hole of the needle and they continued to seek TRO to stop the manual count. Our wish was granted because we fought for it),” he said.
He said it took almost nine months after he filed an election protest before the ballots were finally opened and a manual count made. Jojo said four Regional Trial Court judges inhibited and that caused the delay. Then, an RTC judge from Pampanga hurriedly ruled against his case and dismissed it that made them file an appeal with the poll body’s First Division.
Jojo said Smartmatic attested to a .005 percent accuracy in the PCOS machines.
He said that with 45,000 voters in Dinalupihan who cast their votes in 2013, the error should have been only three votes.
“Nadagdagan pa raw ang boto ng kalaban ko ng kulangkulang isang libong boto, paanong nangyari yon at ang ibang kandidato sa iisang balota, may 20-30 percent discrepancy (The votes of my rival increased, how could that be and there were discrepancies of 20-30 percent in the votes of other candidates),” he said.
He said they have discovered three major grounds – ballots outside ballot boxes found at the Comelec municipal office, 99 percent of the ballots neatly wrapped inside 80 ballot boxes and the results of the print out and reading on the Statement of Votes, in addition to unsigned ballots by the Board of Election Inspectors and patterned votes.
Elaine Santillan, municipal election officer, said when she returned from her assignment in Lubao, Pampanga during the 2013 elections, she found eight bundles of ballots inside her office that should have been inside ballot boxes and under the care of the municipal treasurer.
On the wrapped ballots, Jojo said some teachers executed affidavits attesting that they were not the ones who wrapped the ballots.
Tong
Former chairman Felicito “Tong” Payumo of the Bases Conversion Development Authority said what happened in Dinalupihan has far-reaching significance. “This goes beyond the electoral protest for mayor. It has significance on the 2016 elections. There was cheating in 2013 and if nobody gets punished, this will get repeated,” Tong, also former Bataan congressman said. He said it should not be left hanging because the credibility of the next local elections is at stake.
“Ang protesta sa mayor lang pero nakita ang malaking dayaan sa Dinalupihan sa congressman, mayor, board members, councilors and so on (The election protest was only about the mayoralty post but the manual count showed there was massive cheating in the positions of congressman, board members, councilors and so on),” he said.
Tong said it was clear that there was cheating, there was human tampering of ballots and there was replacement of the ballots.
He posed serious doubts on the PCOS. “People were still voting but there were already transmissions. That alone is impossible to happen but ‘it did happen’. Secondly, if PCOS were accurate, why did operators embark on such a big operation?” Tong said.
He claimed the ballots were taken out of the ballot boxes, obviously replaced and wrapped. Since they were wrapped, obviously the integrity of the ballots is already questioned so results cannot be trusted because they are fruits of a poison tree, so to speak,” the former BCDA chair said.
Asked if he believed there was automated election cheating in Dinalupihan, he said “There was, otherwise, why did we see all what we had seen like the wrapped ballots. If they had been extra meticulous, maybe, we will have a harder time to prove there was cheating.”
He, however, cleared the Comelec management and board and even upper management of Smartmatic. “I don’t think they have anything to do with it. Comelec commissioners approved of the opening of the ballots and why would Smartmatic top management get themselves into a mess with local politics,” Tong said.
“I will not discount the possibility that those in the lower level who know the Smartmatic program together with some low-level Comelec staff may be the ones peddling these programmed CF cards and so on,” he said.
