NSC chief slams Bataan cops for daughter’s loss
MANILA, Philippines -- The National Security Adviser is appalled that not even he or his daughter, a congressional candidate in the second district of Bataan province, can count on its police force.
“I feel very sad,” Norberto Gonzales said Thursday. “I’m the national security adviser and then suddenly [I] don’t get the protection of the police. The police are involved [in vote-buying]. Hindi ko naisip na lolokohin ako ng pulis (I never thought they’d deceive me).”
Gonzales is accusing the Bataan police of “not securing” the votes of his eldest child, Maria Aurora.
He said he would file an election protest at the Commission on Elections on Monday, and promised it would be backed by evidence such as candidates’ stickers and cash stapled together to buy votes.
Gonzales said their camp’s own count had shown Maria Aurora winning by about 1,000 votes but she began losing to reelectionist Rep. Alberto Garcia in the middle of the official tally, causing their lawyers to walk out.
He said Garcia won by around 10,000 votes in the final results.
Sophisticated science
Gonzales said vote-buying had become a “sophisticated science.”
He said he had learned that in Bataan’s second district, voters were given P1,500 on the eve of the elections, and another P500 if they voted before 10 a.m. of May 14.
“I told my daughter, ‘Our mission here is not to win. It is important that we highlight this issue,’” he said. “Vote-buying has never been established as a ground for disqualifying a candidate. It’s premeditated.”
According to Gonzales, local policemen protected the goons who engaged in vote-buying, and poll watchers who wanted to complain had “nobody to run to.”
He said he tried to seek the military’s help, but that ironically, “the Armed Forces can only go there if they are called by the police. So they just roamed around; they could not do anything.”
The Philippine National Police is the sole agency deputized by the Comelec to help ensure the peaceful conduct of the elections.
“We have to create national [awareness] of vote-buying,” Gonzales stressed. “It’s something we have to expose. We have to say it doesn’t work to [the people’s] good.”
Fearing the police
Gonzales said he had informed PNP Director General Oscar Calderon and Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos in writing of the purported vote-buying in Bataan, which supposedly involved the province’s police director and the deputy intelligence chief, a certain “Gumacao.”
“You have a province that has started fearing its police. It’s true that there’s a relationship between police and goons -- at least in my district,” he said.
He added, however, that “dozens of policemen” were “willing to testify that they were used.”
Gonzales, who is among those who have called for the automation of elections, said Bataan was “not used to large-scale fraud and violence.”
He said he could not fault the voters for accepting money: “The people are going hungry in Bataan. I can’t blame them.”
He also said P300 million was spent in Bataan on Election Day alone, “while my daughter spent only P7 million for her campaign.”
“I told Bishop Soc (Socrates Villegas) to watch out for ‘jueteng’ operations, and infrastructure. All that money spent will have to be re-earned,” Gonzales said.
Villegas had earlier described the May 14 elections as the “dirtiest” ever in Bataan.
Bias
Gonzales said he had not mentioned the issue of election fraud in Bataan to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because he was “biased.”
“I want others to speak,” he said. “Thousands are volunteering to be witnesses in the case against cheating.”
He said former Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chair Felicito “Tong” Payumo, who ran and lost in Bataan’s first district, also planned to lodge an election protest.
Gonzales said he was to have run for the congressional seat that his daughter sought. He said he would not push through with his planned candidacy in 2010 if vote-buying would persist.
He expressed sadness for his province, which, he said, could be developed as a prime tourist destination.
“From Mariveles to Subic, it’s better than Boracay, and nearer, too. We only need to pave the roads that will make it accessible,” he said.
By Allison Lopez - Inquirer
“I feel very sad,” Norberto Gonzales said Thursday. “I’m the national security adviser and then suddenly [I] don’t get the protection of the police. The police are involved [in vote-buying]. Hindi ko naisip na lolokohin ako ng pulis (I never thought they’d deceive me).”
Gonzales is accusing the Bataan police of “not securing” the votes of his eldest child, Maria Aurora.
He said he would file an election protest at the Commission on Elections on Monday, and promised it would be backed by evidence such as candidates’ stickers and cash stapled together to buy votes.
Gonzales said their camp’s own count had shown Maria Aurora winning by about 1,000 votes but she began losing to reelectionist Rep. Alberto Garcia in the middle of the official tally, causing their lawyers to walk out.
He said Garcia won by around 10,000 votes in the final results.
Sophisticated science
Gonzales said vote-buying had become a “sophisticated science.”
He said he had learned that in Bataan’s second district, voters were given P1,500 on the eve of the elections, and another P500 if they voted before 10 a.m. of May 14.
“I told my daughter, ‘Our mission here is not to win. It is important that we highlight this issue,’” he said. “Vote-buying has never been established as a ground for disqualifying a candidate. It’s premeditated.”
According to Gonzales, local policemen protected the goons who engaged in vote-buying, and poll watchers who wanted to complain had “nobody to run to.”
He said he tried to seek the military’s help, but that ironically, “the Armed Forces can only go there if they are called by the police. So they just roamed around; they could not do anything.”
The Philippine National Police is the sole agency deputized by the Comelec to help ensure the peaceful conduct of the elections.
“We have to create national [awareness] of vote-buying,” Gonzales stressed. “It’s something we have to expose. We have to say it doesn’t work to [the people’s] good.”
Fearing the police
Gonzales said he had informed PNP Director General Oscar Calderon and Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos in writing of the purported vote-buying in Bataan, which supposedly involved the province’s police director and the deputy intelligence chief, a certain “Gumacao.”
“You have a province that has started fearing its police. It’s true that there’s a relationship between police and goons -- at least in my district,” he said.
He added, however, that “dozens of policemen” were “willing to testify that they were used.”
Gonzales, who is among those who have called for the automation of elections, said Bataan was “not used to large-scale fraud and violence.”
He said he could not fault the voters for accepting money: “The people are going hungry in Bataan. I can’t blame them.”
He also said P300 million was spent in Bataan on Election Day alone, “while my daughter spent only P7 million for her campaign.”
“I told Bishop Soc (Socrates Villegas) to watch out for ‘jueteng’ operations, and infrastructure. All that money spent will have to be re-earned,” Gonzales said.
Villegas had earlier described the May 14 elections as the “dirtiest” ever in Bataan.
Bias
Gonzales said he had not mentioned the issue of election fraud in Bataan to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because he was “biased.”
“I want others to speak,” he said. “Thousands are volunteering to be witnesses in the case against cheating.”
He said former Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chair Felicito “Tong” Payumo, who ran and lost in Bataan’s first district, also planned to lodge an election protest.
Gonzales said he was to have run for the congressional seat that his daughter sought. He said he would not push through with his planned candidacy in 2010 if vote-buying would persist.
He expressed sadness for his province, which, he said, could be developed as a prime tourist destination.
“From Mariveles to Subic, it’s better than Boracay, and nearer, too. We only need to pave the roads that will make it accessible,” he said.
By Allison Lopez - Inquirer
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
7:40 AM
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