Military ordered to cheat in the Ilocos and Cordillera

Martin Montana
Spokesperson
Chadli Molintas Command
May 9, 2007

The military in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions are gearing up for massive electoral fraud. Inside sources from sympathetic and conscienticized junior military officers here, particularly members of the Tirad Pass Brigade, have revealed information to us that they have been ordered to exert all efforts to prevent progressive party lists and candidates from winning, and to ensure victory for Team Unity and pro-military candidates in the region.

This comes as no surprise, as Lt. Antonio Trillanes had earlier exposed similar information. His comrades informed him that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon had ordered ground troops to cheat for the 12 administration senatorial bets. ABS-CBN TV Patrol also exposed military forces in Camarines Sur openly campaigning for congressional candidate Dato Arroyo, son of Gloria Arroyo, and destroying posters of his political rival. A military officer was thus forced to admit on national television that his men were actively campaigning against progressive party lists such as Bayan Muna, because these were communist fronts anyway.

Army soldiers and CAFGUs in Davao Oriental also admitted to the media that they were instructed to vote for pro-administration candidates and party-list groups. Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz reported that teachers in Pangasinan were offered from P50,000 to P100,000 to undertake dagdag-bawas. The AFP has been actively campaigning for Bantay party list group whose nominee is Maj. Jovito "Berdugo" Palparan. Malaca�ang has funded pro-administration party list groups. Opposition parties and candidates are harassed, including Trillanes, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, Jonjon Villanueva, and even former President Cory Aquino.

These are not isolated incidents. There is an obvious pattern of national conspiracy to ensure that Arroyo loyalists remain in power and rivals are cheated. From north to south, in far-flung barrios where there is little monitoring and even in vote-rich areas such as urban poor communities in Metro Manila, the military has been deliberately deployed and ordered to commit electoral fraud in favor of the Arroyo clique and against all anti-Arroyo forces, in the guise of "voter's education" and "peace-keeping". Even now, the military in the Ilocos and Cordillera are preparing to use all sorts of dirty tricks to disenfrachise the people of their right to suffrage. This includes ballot substitution, ballot box switching, flying voters, harassment and intimidation of progressive candidates and party list groups, destruction of campaign posters of anti-Arroyo candidates, and others.

The AFP generals' standard reply is simply to deny any charges of fraud through the mass media because in the end, they go scot free and will even be rewarded, just as Esperon was promoted Chief of Staff for ensuring Arroyo's victory through dagdag-bawas.

The military's involvement in partisan politics is totally contemptible. These so-called guardians of law and order are violating the law with impunity. Gloria Arroyo cannot escape responsibility or pretend ignorance regarding this. She is notorious for deliberately and spitefully disregarding justice and morality whenever it comes to the preservation of her rule. She lies without compunction, pretends that her left hand does not know what her right hand is doing,

There is yet hope, however, with the growing disenchantment among conscienticized, honorable, and incorruptible military officers, especially the younger ones, who can no longer stomach the Arroyo regime's depravity. The more that Arroyo and her generals lust for power, the farther will they drive the people towards the path of revolution. The revolutionary movement and the New People's Army will exhaust all means to frustrate the Arroyo regime's nefarious schemes at every step of the way.

The Chadli Molintas Command calls on all enlightened junior officers of the AFP and PNP to further expose and oppose the rotten plot of the Arroyo regime to rig the coming elections. #


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