The Stakes

      ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) wins the award this Monday for best “scoop” and “exclusive stories” with their story on  “snowpaked” ER’s of Davao ( with the BEI members’ conversations as follows: “dagdagan mo ng 1,000 si _______ (name of candidate), etc.” and the story on Boy Macarambon and his men  (Photo downloaded from www.elentordesillas.com); getting the Lanao Del Sur ER’s out of the possession and control of the provincial treasurer; hauling  them unto several cars,  and then driving away in different directions. A bunch of ER’s was brought to a hotel (Ma. Cristina Hotel in Iligan City); how the ABS-CBN news team caught on tape this specific bunch of ER’s being pulled up the stairs inside the hotel is a story by itself. (paki-zoom-in nga ang mga mukha ng mga tao).    

         I retrieved my 52-page transcript of the Garci tapes which in 2005 I downloaded from www.pcij.org/blog; i knew exactly where I filed it, I’ve had several spring-cleaning of files but never threw it away,  all this time waiting for some genius to crack open this case, how the operation was done/ is done.

       The ANC field reporters, out of hard work and patience,  out of instinct and intuition, broke the story.      

          Here was how Boy Macarambon, the election officer who took Lanao del Sur ER’s yesterday was mentioned in the Garci tapes: (downloaded two years ago from www.pcij.org/blog)

Conversation between Danny and man who sounds like Garci on 25 19:52 May 2004

        Danny: Sir, good evening. SirDanny po ito. Sir, tapos na po angCotabato City?

         Man who sounds like Garci: Hinihintay ko yung i-fax ni Bedol.

        Danny: Ano kaya, nagawan ng paraan sir?

         Man who sounds like Garci: Oo. Ang akin, sabi ko, kwarenta mahigit and kailangan para um-over siya. As of this afternoon, 39…          

             Danny: Ang hinihintay lang po ayCotabato City, ano po sir?

             Man who sounds like Garci: Oo, pero may konti pa sa Lanao del Sur

           Danny: Ah yung anim na municipalities. Panalo daw siya dun eh.

          Man who sounds like Garci: Mananalo siya talaga. Nandun si Boy Macarambon eh. Pababantayan ko…

          Danny: Opo, opo

        Man who sounds like Garci: Kaya nga sabi kung makapanalo siya ng 20 to 25,000, mag-celebrate na tayo

        Danny: San po ba kayo, nasan kayo sir?

       Man who sounds like Garci: Nandito ako sa kwan,Westin Plaza.

        Danny: Hayaan nyo, ipapahanda ko yung mga kwan sir, basta’t nakwan eh aking ipapahanda yung para sa ating mga kwan…

        Man who sounds like Garci: Bata. Nag-usap na kami. Sabihin mo lang tumawag lang siya sa akin

       Danny: Sige Sir.Man who sounds like Garci: Kung malalaman ko ngayong gabi, ipa-celebrate ko na sya eh.

        Man who sounds like Garci: O sige lang… Mag-uusap na kami

        Danny: Opo, opo     

     Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, when confronted with the footage of the ER’s being carried up the stairs inside the hotel, after he had denied it, said he would resign from his office,  if it could be shown that there was something unusual or irregular about what they did.          (same photo cropped and resized)              Maybe he should resign. Here’s the provision of the Omnibus Election Code on the distribution of ER’s:       

         “Sec. 189.  Representatives of the registered political parties in the verification and distribution of official ballots and election returns. – The ruling party and the dominant opposition party or their respective duly authorized representatives in the different provinces, cities and municipalities, shall submit the names of their respective watchers who, together with the representatives of the Commission and the provincial, city and municipal treasurer shall verify the contents of the boxes containing the shipment of official ballots, election returns and sample official ballots received by the said treasurers. The provincial treasurers shall keep a record of their receipt and distribution to each municipal treasurer, while the city and municipal treasurer shall each keep a record of their distribution to the board of election inspectors.”  (downloaded from www.chanrobles.com)                   

    What was unusual was that it was not in accord with how the distribution of ER’s was provided for in the law. What was irregular was the surreptitiousness by which it was done. Were there even receipts for it as provided by  law and would there be an accounting of the ER’s as provided by  law? That’s what was/ is irregular and unusual.

         We don’t have the serial numbers of these ER’s, there would be no time to scrutinize each and every bunch of six-copy ER that would be given to each BEI; so one would wonder whether what would be distributed/ was distributed by Boy Macarambon and company to the BEI’s were the official ER’s, or are those official ER’s now in hotel rooms being filled up (half of that is done, they are already in hotel rooms and different other places that the camera did not catch.)      

          Commissioner Sarmiento said we should keep trusting Boy Macarambon and company even after the Garci tapes had shown how operations were done;  because of what Commissioner Sarmiento said was  “due process”, like there was nothing he could legally do about it.         

       There was something that could have been legally done/ that he could legally do;  about it. These government employees could have been transferred elsewhere, to other offices  other functions except the handling of ER’s, and that did not require/ does not require any hearing or any “due process” (i keep changing/ am ambivalent about my verb tenses like there was still/there is still something we could do about it).  There are investigations and complaints pending against them. Any person who has worked in government knows that under Civil Service Rules, you could transfer any government employee for any cause or no cause at all, and many have been transferred to other offices or put on floating status for flimsier reasons like laziness and inefficiency or being quarrelsome.         

        Here, the future of the nation was at stake, and all Commissioner Sarmiento could say was: He would stake his name on it.       

           

         We are  not willing to stake our future on him and his new-found friends, Boy Macarambon, Atty. Lintang Bedol, and Atty. Jubil Surmieda, et al; i didn’t know they were close; the Commissioner is real friendly.