Operators offered victory for Gibo for P1B, Morato claims

Former Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Manoling Morato on Wednesday claimed Commission on Election employees had approached him offering “sure victory" for administration presidential candidate Gilberto “Gibo" Teodoro Jr. for P1 billion.

Morato, a staunch supporter of Teodoro, made the claim at the House Committee on Suffrage hearing on alleged poll fraud during the May 10 elections. Last February, seven people came to his office in Quezon City to offer their "services" during the conduct of the automated elections, said Morato, one of two hosts of Dial M, a talk show on the government-led National Broadcast Network which is aired twice weekly. "It was not offered to me because I was not a candidate. It was being offered to Gilbert Teodoro. I was supposed to be a conduit," he said. Although he was unable to get full names of the men, he got the first names of at least two of them — a certain "Artie" and "Bong," who both claimed they were from the Commission on Elections (Comelec). But Morato said he refused the offer, saying Teodoro no intentions of committing poll fraud. "When they were offering to cheat [in favor of Teodoro], I cut them off. I said it is not in Teodoro's character to do that," Morato said. The men later "shifted" their offer, he said. From manipulating poll results in favor of Teodoro, the offered to ensure that the administration bet would not be cheated. If he were to be shown photographs of Comelec officials, he would be able to identify these seven people, adding he never informed Teodoro about the alleged offer. He also said he expects that the administration would move to track down the cheats after his revelation. At the hearing, Morato also read from "notes" he made to jot down portions of their conversation on the day he was approached by the alleged 'operators' for the Comelec. The people also allegedly presented diagram detailing the process of carrying out fraud during the elections. The plan would either alter the source code used in the voting machines, switch compact flash cards, or intercept the transmission of election returns. The scheme presented to him appear to corroborate claims earlier made by a certain Robin — also known as Koala Bear — that he was among those who "operated" in the rigging of polls. Lawyer Homobono Adaza on Wednesday reappeared during the ongoing House probe on alleged poll fraud to present Morato as his informant about regional poll officials involved in poll manipulation of the recently-concluded elections. [See: Adaza presents Morato as informant on alleged poll fraud] Mike Toledo, Teodoro's spokesperson, was unavailable for comment as of posting time. - LBG, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV