Bro. Eddie claims being robbed of votes in 2004 polls

(Updated 1:59 p.m.) Presidential candidate Bro. Eddie Villanueva claimed on Thursday that the camp of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stole his votes during the May 2004 polls, and that he and the late Fernando Poe, Jr. were in fact the ones neck and neck in the race. "Milyun-milyon ang sumuporta sa amin.. Pero may order iyong pinakamakapangyarihang lalaki sa Malacañang na hindi nahalal. Inutusan ang dalawang tao.. na siguraduhin ninyo na kulelat si Bro. Eddie sa limang naglalaban at huwag lalagpas ng dalawang milyon ang kanyang boto. Kung hindi, delikado tayo. We have to discourage and demoralize his followers," Villanueva said on Unang Hirit’s UH Hiritan 2010. (We had millions of supporters. But the most powerful man in Malacañang who was not elected ordered two people to make sure that I only get a maximum of two million votes. Otherwise, we [referring to the man's group] would be in danger.) Villanueva identified the two people only as "Gabby" and "Ronnie" but failed to mention who was the powerful man in Malacañang he was referring to. In a phone interview, deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar denied Villanueva's allegations. "I got around to reviewing the SWS survey five to six months leading to the elections in 2004. Bro. Eddie placed a poor third from President Arroyo and FPJ. So I don't really know where that comes from," Olivar told GMANews.TV. "This is all juicy speculation. There is no evidence to prove it. There is even no logic to it. He was always very far in the surveys anyway. Why is he coming up with this at this time? If he knows who these people are, why doesn't he give the public their full names, so that they will be given the chance also to air their side?" "Otherwise, no matter how entertaining it sounds, this is just more campaign rhetoric. I think he owes this to the voters, if he is sincere with his earlier promise to promote a moral high ground in the election. This is not really a matter for the Palace," Olivar added.
In the same television program, economist Solita Monsod mentioned the name of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and asked Villanueva for his source on such information. The television evangelist responded by saying that the information was relayed to him in Alabang after the May 2004 polls. He said a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission was the one who informed him of the alleged operation. Villanueva did not identify the SEC official. At the same time, Villanueva said he was informed by his campaign organizer Harry Limtong that during the May 2004 polls, he was neck and neck with the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. Limtong got the information from a Malacañang official, Villanueva said. He also did not identify the Palace official. "Si Bro. Eddie at Fernando Poe ang neck and neck sa eleksyon. Kaya lang, ninakaw namin iyong boto ni Bro. Eddie, sapagkat pastor siya, ang paniwala namin, hindi siya magco-complain. Hindi siya magrereklamo," Villanueva recalled the supposed conversation between Limtong and the unnamed Malacañang official. (Bro. Eddie and Fernando Poe were neck and neck in the elections. We stole Bro. Eddie's votes because, as a pastor, we believe that he wouldn't file complaints.) In the 2004 elections, President Arroyo got 12,905,808 votes, just over a million more than Poe’s 11,782,232. Villanueva, on the other hand, placed fifth and last with 1,988,218 votes. Villanueva's camp filed an electoral protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) but the same was dismissed in 2005. - Nikka Corsino/RSJ, GMANews.TV