Government prosecutors ought to pursue leads in the Mayuga report that point to people involved in irregularities during the 2004 presidential elections, lawmakers and former top military officials said on Thursday. Former Navy officer and now Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV described the Mayuga report as a form of “whitewash" and a piece of “trash," but he also acknowledged that testimonies in the report can still be used for follow-up investigations. “’Yung mga testimonies ng mga witnesses and resource persons are still ‘intact. ‘Yun ngang mga annexes, yung mga testimonial evidence, eh, klaro doon, so ‘yun ang gagamitin natin. And doon natin makikita na maraming revelations, maraming leads na pwede nating gamitin," he said. Using this evidence, he said that the government can implicate several generals and even former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is believed to have benefited from the poll fraud. “Nandodoon kung sino ang nagbigay ng pera, sino ang tumanggap ng pera, they admitted. And mayroon pa tayong links dun sa mga sundalong inutusan na magsulat mismo sa balota ng mga pangalan na gusto nilang ipanalo," he said. Trillanes, along with 300 soldiers, had called on Arroyo to resign as President in 2003 amid corruption allegations. In 2007, he once again called for the former President's ouster amid allegations of poll fraud.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Ex-Arroyo aide suspected poll fraud In the declassified AFP report, retired Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, former commander of a task force assigned to assist the Commission on Elections, told the Mayuga panel when asked about the “Hello Garci" recordings, “I think that is true, and you better accept it…We all know it." “Whether you deny it to yourself or not, we have to accept that our officers have been involved in this. There are people among us who allowed themselves to be used. I think everybody knows that," Garcia also said. Garcia went on to tell the Mayuga panel that politicking military officers “was a fact, sometimes kahit nag-uusap tayo informally, these are the things we hear. Let us not joke ourselves or try to delude ourselves in the idea na walang nagyayari because in fact things are happening." The former Arroyo peace adviser said cheating in Mindanao “has been elevated into an art already… I think it is only in Mindanao nangyayari ang cheating. Cheating cannot be in Luzon and Visayas without being detected but it is more prevalent in Mindanao," Garcia added. Garcia was not under oath when he gave his testimony to the Mayuga panel. Testimonies under duress Former Brigadier General Danilo Lim also said that the allegations of cover-up only confirmed perceptions that the report “will be used as a tool to conceal the previous administration’s crimes while paying false tribute to truth and accountability."
AT A GLANCE: THE MAYUGA REPORT
Findings: - “Unfamiliarity" of AFP personnel on election laws, rules, and regulations - “Unprofessional conduct" among some soldiers - Participation of some soldiers in the conduct of elections (as election inspectors and as assistants in clustering precincts; military camps were also used as places for canvassing) - “Inadequate policy guidelines for election deputation duties" Conclusions: - The AFP “exerted its best efforts to discharge its deputation of duties" during the elections - There were some soldiers “acts of omission" - The AFP “lacks clear cut guidelines to frontline units regarding deputation duties" - The military “cannot be entirely faulted for some lapses in the conduct of its deputation duties" Recommendations: - Coordination with the COMELEC “to better enhance AFP’s participation in future elections" - Further investigation on unprofessional conduct of some military men - Formulation of policies on AFP participation in future polls — Andreo Calonzo, GMA News
“I am not surprised that the report concluded that there is no statement from the resource persons directly linking them and Arroyo to any election fraud or anomaly. I believe many of the testimonies were made under duress, coerced one way or another by the previous government to either lie or be economical with the truth," Lim said. Still, Lim noted that the report contained testimonies with direct admissions that the 2004 elections was marred by fraud. “These testimonies must be lifted and refined as they may point us to the truth. The Mayuga report already failed to follow on these leads, it is now up to us to redeem these testimonies from their subdued state," he said.
PNP helicopters land in Tawi-Tawi Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares criticized the Mayuga panel for ignoring information that they could have used to get to the bottom of alleged cheating in the polls. “The Mayuga panel [is composed] of military men supposedly good at investigation and interrogation, but their failure to pursue the trail of evidence in the testimonies of witnesses is suspicious," he said in a text message on Thursday. The January 2006 report was prepared by former Navy Flag Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, who headed the panel tasked to look into the alleged participation of high-ranking military officers in rigging the 2004 elections. Colmenares cited as an example testimony from Col. Rene Pilapil who recalled that in 2004 in Tawi-Tawi, “two helicopters requested for landing after the election, by an alleged lawyer of the now First Gentleman." “What that lawyer did there can range from the regular to the irregular, but the Mayuga panel just ignored that. They could have asked what the lawyer of the First Gentleman was doing there, at what time, where he or she was going — those simple questions," he said in a separate phone interview. Colmenares received on Wednesday a copy of the report — kept secret for six years — after it was ordered
“declassified" by President Benigno Aquino III.
Poll fraud probe Justice chief Leila de Lima, for her part, said that the credibility of the Mayuga report will be tackled by the
fact-finding committee formed by the Department of Justice and the Commission on Elections to look into allegations of massive cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections. “If there is a cover-up, that will be determined in the investigation," De Lima said at a news briefing, acknowledging that the report contained volumes of testimonies which could be vital in the DOJ-Comelec inquiry.
— MRT/ELR/VS, GMA News 
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