By JUDE C. GALFORD III
A new witness at the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security hearing the "Hello Garci" wiretapping controversy yesterday accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo of having masterminded a plan to pad the votes for his wife, President Arroyo, in Mindanao in the last presidential elections.
Ahmare Lucman told the Senate committee that Mr. Arroyo arranged to ensure for the President a big margin in the vote count in Lanao del Sur by offering municipal election officers (MEOs)
R10 for each vote added for Mrs. Arroyo in the Municipal Certificate of Canvass.
The First Gentleman has denied intervening in any way in the elections in Lanao del Sur.
Lucman, who identified himself as a member of the Lanao Unity Movement for GMA or LUM, said the organization was created to recruit mayoral opposition candidates from Lanao del Sur and del Norte to improve the chances of Mrs. Arroyo’s winning the presidential race.
But when Fernando Poe Jr., Mrs. Arroyo’s major rival in the May 2004 presidential elections, began to lead in the initial counting of votes in Mindanao, the LUM undertook "special operations" to buy off election officials under the direct supervision of Sharia Judge Nagamura T. Moner, Lucman said.
Lucman’s testimony supported the allegations made earlier by Hadji Dalidig, chairman of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) in Lanao del Sur, in an earlier Senate hearing that Moner was an "operator" for Mr. Arroyo in the province.
Lucman said that when it became clear that Poe was winning in the balloting in Lanao del Sur, Moner instructed him and the LUM to ensure Mrs. Arroyo’s victory "at all costs."
"Judge Moner informed me of the availability of the budget of
R1 million sent by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and Alfonso Cusi to spend or give to election officers in the towns of Lanao del Sur," he said at the committee hearing.
Lucman said another million pesos were later delivered to Marawi City on May 13, 2004 by a brother of Judge Moner to pay municipal election officers to pad the votes for Mrs. Arroyo.
Lucman said that he personally gave
R90,000 to three MEOs, whom he later identified to Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, Senate National Defense Committee chairman.
In an affidavit, Lucman said that during the special operations, all communications with Mr. Arroyo were coursed through Moner.
Moner vehemently denied Lucman’s allegations as a "fabrication".
Though he had signed an affidavit earlier narrating basically the same story, Moner denied before senators his earlier statements tagging Mr. Arroyo as the mastermind behind election fraud in Lanao.
When quizzed by Senators Frank Drilon, Jinggoy Estrada and Biazon, Moner said he was "tricked" into signing the affidavit by his lawyer, Robert Pulido.
But the senators did not buy his story, with Drilon saying that a judge could not be easily tricked or fooled by anyone.
"As far as I am concerned, Moner is not a credible witness," Estrada said.
Biazon said Lucman’s testimony has more value than Moner’s because it is consistent unlike the judge’s.
The Senate has agreed to place Lucman under its protective custody for his safety and grant him immunity from all suits.
Biazon asked Moner why he want immunity from suit when an evidence he (Moner) presented before the Senate was after a lie.
Moner said he does not clearly understand the nature of immunity. Estrada pointed out that it was "incredible" for a judge not to know what immunity is.
Although the senators present during the hearing were obviously amused and did not show any indication that they believed Moner’s story, the Sharia Court judge continued to insist his innocence on his involvement in election fraud.
But perhaps the greatest amusement the senators heard yesterday was when Moner, founder of an organization pushing for President Arroyo’s candidacy last year, declared: "I don’t support the President."
