DOJ-COMELEC panel begins probe on alleged 2007 poll fraud

The Department of Justice - Commission on Elections (DOJ-COMELEC) joint panel on Thursday started its preliminary investigation on alleged poll fraud in the 2007 senatorial elections purportedly under instruction from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Out of more than 30 respondents in the electoral sabotage case, only former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol showed up before the panel. The rest of the respondents were represented by their respective counsels. Macapagal-Arroyo was represented by former Court of Appeals justice Artemio Tuquero, who had also served as Justice Secretary of former President Joseph Estrada. Her husband, former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike" Arroyo, was represented by Atty. Joselito Lomangaya, standing in for counsel Ferdinand Topacio. Prosecutor General Claro Arellano clarified, however, that the respondents’ physical presence during the first two hearings were not yet required, as long as they are represented by counsel. On the other side, the legal counsel of complainant Senator Aquilino “Koko" Pimentel III told the panel that they were adopting the affidavits of witnesses who had earlier tagged the Arroyos. Those affidavits were by former COMELEC chair Benjamin Abalos Sr., former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra (also formerly the lawyer of the Arroyo administration party Team Unity), former presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio, and several others. Pimentel’s camp seeks to prove that the respondents had conspired to sabotage the results of the 2007 elections by ensuring a “12-0" victory in favor of Team Unity senatorial candidates and leaving some opposition senators with zero votes. During the hearing, Macapagal-Arroyo’s counsel questioned supposed “procedural lapses" in the conduct of the preliminary investigation proceedings by the DOJ-COMELEC joint panel. Specifically, Tuquero called it “improper" for the DOJ-COMELEC panel to entertain the complaint of prosecutors also coming from the DOJ, holding it tantamount to a prejudgment of the case. “Considering the previous pronouncements of the head of the COMELEC and DOJ, I think they have already made up their minds. In fact they have announced that the case will be filed in court before Christmas. How sure are they that the evidence is strong enough to establish probable cause, unless they have already prejudged the case?" he said. Mike Arroyo’s counsel said they would be appearing before the joint panel “without recognizing the legitimacy of its existence". “We believe that the joint committee of the DOJ and Comelec, whose respective heads are far from being impartial and disinterested, having lawyered for parties who have contended that the 2004 and 2007 elections have been visited by fraud, is nothing but a kangaroo court preordained to persecute our client and his spouse. We refuse to dignify this medieval inquisition," Atty. Topacio said in a statement. Lead Prosecutor Arellano, however, defended the joint panel’s composition as being duly constituted by proper authorities. Other members of the joint panel conducting the preliminary investigation are Provincial Prosecutor George Dee, City Prosecutor Jacinto Ang, Comelec lawyers Michael Villaret and Romeo Fortes. The joint panel gave the parties until the next hearing on Nov. 14 to submit their respective motions. —MRT/ELR, GMA News