An official of election watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) on Thursday recounted how votes were supposedly padded and shaved in Lanao del Sur during the 2004 presidential polls to ensure the victory of then administration candidate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Hadji Abdullah Daligdig, NAMFREL Lanao del Sur chairperson, said he is willing to testify in any investigation to prove that votes were manipulated through “dagdag bawas" in at least five towns of the province in favor of Arroyo. “All kinds of ways ginamit ng administrasyon para mandaya. Bumagyo talaga ng kwarta doon para sa suhulan," he told reporters on Thursday. Arroyo’s camp has denied the allegations of poll fraud, describing it all as “lies." “I really don’t know what could be the motive or purpose of those who are peddling these lies and kung bakit nila ito binibigyan ng prominence sa media. Nagtataka kami, wala pa namang mga sinumpaang salaysay ang mga taong ito na siya sanang pagbabasihan natin kung tama ang kanilang mga sinasabi at pangatawanan nila ang kanilang sinasabi," said Arroyo’s legal spokesman Raul Lambino in an interview aired on GMA News’ “24 Oras" Thursday.
Daligdig appeared in the office of Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares on Thursday afternoon to provide his testimony that will be used as evidence in the House’s planned inquiry into the alleged anomalies during the 2004 and 2007 polls. The NAMFREL official also met with Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Sixto Brillanes Jr. earlier in the day since he is being tapped as one of the witnesses in the poll body’s joint probe with the Department of Justice on the supposed electoral cheating. “I think this is the time we help the present administration in cleaning the electoral process especially in our area," he said. Daligdig also said that he has copies of election returns (ERs) from the region during the 20o4 polls, since NAMFREL was then the Commission on Election (Comelec)’s citizen’s arm. Arroyo beat her closest rival, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., by about a million votes during the controversial elections.
Dagdag bawas Daligdig even presented a breakdown of votes showing discrepancies in the NAMFREL count and the official count. In Saguiaran town, for example, he claims that the votes in favor of Arroyo were padded by more than 5,500, while all the remaining presidential candidates’ votes were decreased. Colmenares, for his part, said that Daligdig can help a lot in the House probe since the NAMFREL official himself witnessed the manipulation of votes. “He can definitely provide both testimonial and documentary evidence," he told in a separate interview. Colmenares and fellow Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño filed a resolution earlier this month directing the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms to conduct an inquiry into the alleged poll fraud in 2004 and 2007.
— KBK, GMA News 
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