Biazon says Senate panel should look into switching of poll returns

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Rodolfo Biazon yesterday said a probe into allegations that switching of 2004 election returns took place while the documents were in the custody of House should be handled by another body.

Biazon, chair of the Senate national defense committee, suggested that the Senate electoral reform committee headed by Sen. Richard Gordon undertake a fresh inquiry. Gordon was not available for comment.

He said the only reason the Senate defense panel spearheaded the previous investigation was that generals of the Armed Forces were implicated in the alleged electoral fraud in 2004.

He said the involvement of the Special Action Force of the PNP, and not the military, also makes a good argument against taking jurisdiction over the new information.

He assured the full cooperation of his Senate defense panel by "making available all materials presented to the committee."

A VERA files report by journalist Ellen Tordesillas said SAF commandos have admitted to switching ballot boxes and replacing them with fake election returns to make it appear that President Arroyo won over rival candidate Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004. The report said the operation took place right at the South Wing building of the House of Representatives where the contested ballot boxes were being kept.

The SAF officers said they switched the election returns of several provinces on three occasions to reconcile these with the figures in the certificates of canvass and statements of votes that were allegedly tampered with.

Some of them said they got their orders from Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco, then commanding officer of the SAF, saying they were under the impression that it was a "legal operation."

The last time that the "Hello Garci" probe on alleged cheating in the 2004 polls was re-opened was in August last year after Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in a privilege speech, showed a videotape of former intelligence agent T/Sgt. Vidal Doble who claimed he wiretapped former election official Virgilio Garcillano and President Arroyo.

Doble said the wiretapping, ordered by high-ranking military officials, was conducted under "Project Lighthouse," started in late 2003 to tap phones of groups considered a threat to the government as well as officials with doubtful loyalties, including Garcillano.

"She wanted to maintain a lead of 1 million," Doble had told the Senate probe body, adding that the two also spoke of fears that a local election officer might divulge cheating that allegedly took place in the south.

Others wiretapped by military intelligence included Arroyo’s election rival Fernando Poe Jr., an opposition senator, a former Arroyo Cabinet official, and a former aide of ousted President Joseph Estrada, Doble said.