Michaelangelo Zuce,
a former Palace aide, talks about vote rigging allegedly involving
President Arroyo at a press conference yesterday. [Photo by Boy Santos].
A former aide to
President Arroyo’s political adviser came forward and claimed
yesterday that he had personal knowledge of the Chief Executive
cheating her way to victory in last year’s presidential elections.
Michaelangelo Zuce, who
worked at the Presidential Liaison Office for Political Affairs, told
in a news conference that Mrs. Arroyo had met with several election
officials at her own house, where he witnessed the wife of a suspected
jueteng baron distributing bribes to the officials.
"What I know is
that President Arroyo is not merely the beneficiary of the cheating in
the 2004 elections," Zuce told reporters, accompanied by lawyer
Liwayway Vinzons-Chato. "She had knowledge and direct
participation in it."
Zuce added that he also
paid bribes to Mindanao election officials - with money from his
office - to ensure Mrs. Arroyo’s May 2004 victory.
Mrs. Arroyo, facing
impeachment over vote-rigging and other allegations, denied yesterday
the new charges and challenged her accusers to take the case to court.
Zuce claimed that Mrs.
Arroyo had a "secret dinner" with 27 regional and provincial
officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in January 2004 at
the President’s house in posh La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City.
He recalled Mrs.
Arroyo, who was then facing a strong challenge from opposition
candidate Fernando Poe Jr., had been "giving a short talk asking
the election officials to support and help her in the presidential
elections."
After dinner, Pampanga
provincial board member Lilia Pineda, an Arroyo friend and wife of
suspected illegal gambling baron Bong Pineda, allegedly distributed
envelopes containing P30,000 to each official.
He claimed that the
meeting, as well as the bribe offer, was done in coordination with
former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, then the Mindanao
election chief. He said Garcillano is a distant relative.
Garcillano, who has
gone into hiding, is a central figure in the alleged wiretapped
recordings in which he and Mrs. Arroyo purportedly discussed ways to
ensure her victory before official results were announced.
Zuce said the purported
wiretapped conversations between Mrs. Arroyo and Garcillano
"really took place because he told me about them."
He added his office,
then headed by political adviser Joey Rufino, had been tasked to
conduct consultations with election officers headed by Garcillano.
"While undertaking
the operation for this project as early as 2002, I met with and paid
certain Comelec officials, regional directors and election supervisors
from funds coming from our office, which may possibly be government
funds," he said, referring to the Comelec.
He alleged that the
money also may have come from illegal gambling proceeds.
Zuce allegedly had
meetings with Mindanao election officials in Tubod, Lanao del Norte,
and General Santos City during the last two months of 2002.
It was during those
meetings that Garcillano, who was then Comelec director for Region 10,
asked for the officials’ support for Mrs. Arroyo’s candidacy,
according to Zuce.
The election officials
said they would help, provided that Garcillano was appointed to the
Comelec so he could back them up. His appointment in early 2004 was
viewed with suspicion by the opposition citing earlier poll fraud
allegations against Garcillano.
"Before the end of
the meeting, Garcillano distributed envelopes containing P20,000 for
regional directors and provincial supervisors, P15,000 for city
officers, P10,000 for municipal officers, and P5,000 for selected
staff of Comelec Mindanao office," Zuce said.
Garcillano explained
that the money came from Mrs. Arroyo "in appreciation of their
expression of support for her candidacy."
Other meetings later
followed, Zuce said, and that he was assigned to distribute bribes to
provincial election officials.
Some vehicles,
including four Mitsubishi Pajeros and two military-type jeeps, were
sent to Mindanao as requested by election officials there in an
earlier meeting.
The vehicles allegedly
came from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. chairman Efraim
Genuino.
Zuce further claimed
that "Garcillano called me to a condominium unit in Macapagal
Boulevard and showed me a cabinet filled with plastic-wrapped bundles
of money amounting to P12 million. But he said it was not enough
because the special operations needed around P25 to P37 million."
At that time,
Garcillano allegedly ordered Zuce to go to Mindanao to monitor the
situation there and gave him P500,000 for his expenses and for his
family.
"Among my
assignments was to monitor all officials and employees of Comelec and
coordinate with provincial supervisors to ensure President Arroyo’s
win in the area. And in places where she would be losing, I was
supposed to talk to the election officers to find ways to reduce her
loss or to add votes in her bailiwicks," claimed Zuce.
He allegedly worked
with one of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo’s staff, a
certain Butch Pakinggan, in dealing with election problems of local
candidates backed by Mrs. Arroyo.
Zuce said he was
offered P20,000 a month for six months to keep his mouth shut,
"but I am disturbed and fearful for my safety and my
family."
Zuce said he was coming
forward because he and his family were being "targeted" by
Arroyo allies, adding: "I appeal to President Arroyo... to please
tell the truth, confess and repent as I am doing for what we have done
to the nation."
Chato said Zuce would
be willing to testify in an impeachment trial against Mrs. Arroyo, who
is facing a complaint filed before the House of Representatives.
Chato said Zuce sought
her help since they were affiliated during the 2001 senatorial
election, in which she ran and lost.
The former Bureau of
Internal Revenue chief downplayed Malacañang claims that Zuce was
paid by the opposition to air his accusations. "He’s not a paid
hack. Just because he spoke against the President, he is a paid
hack?"
Opposition senators
want Zuce to testify in an ongoing Senate inquiry on allegations that
Mrs. Arroyo’s husband, eldest son and brother-in-law were on the
payroll of jueteng operators.
Self-confessed bagwoman
Sandra Cam had earlier told the inquiry that Mrs. Arroyo took payoffs
from illegal gambling barons.
Sen. Manuel Villar,
whose committee is jointly conducting the inquiry with that of Sen.
Lito Lapid, said Zuce may be invited if Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop
Oscar Cruz presents him as a witness in his crusade against jueteng.
Villar said he will
discuss the matter with Lapid.
Zuce’s accusations
bolster earlier poll fraud allegations against Garcillano, whose
whereabouts remain unknown since audio recordings of Mrs. Arroyo’s
purported conversations with him surfaced last month.
Former senator
Francisco Tatad, who is allied with the opposition, yesterday
furnished reporters with documents allegedly proving that the
"partnership between President Arroyo and Garcillano had been
going on since 2002 and that he has been working for her."
Tatad showed a two-page
letter from Garcillano to Mrs. Arroyo, dated Nov. 28, 2003, seeking an
appointment to the Comelec.
"I hope I am not
taxing your patience for repeatedly reminding you of my application
for position of commissioner of the Comelec," the letter read.
"Although you have given the hope of being appointed to that
exalted position in case of any vacancy, I still feel the need to
remind you of my desire." — With Non Alquitran, Cecille Suerte
Felipe, Marvin Sy, Christina Mendez, Evelyn Macairan, AP
