RIYADH, 28 July 2005 — Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson was apparently cheated during the absentee voting exercise held at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh last year, a community leader has said.

Renato Caseda, the founding president of the Calabarzon group, claimed that Lacson had about a thousand supporters from Um’al Hamam who cast their votes but these were not reflected in the election results.

In a forum held on Sunday at the Elite International School, Caseda said his group “singled out” Lacson and his vice presidential running mate, former Rep. Carlos Padilla, yet not a vote for the tandem was read out during the counting.

“At the time of the counting, we noted that the penmanship in the ballots that were read were almost uniform,” said Caseda in Filipino.

Caseda, who was Lacson’s chief coordinator in the Kingdom during the presidential campaign, indicated that the alleged election fraud at the embassy may have benefited re-electionist President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who got got a total of 22,377 votes in Riyadh, Alkhobar and Jeddah.

Lacson was next with 13,597, while the immensely popular actor Fernando Poe Jr. was a poor third with 9,642 votes.

Television evangelist Eddie Villanueva was fourth with 5,393 votes, while former Senator Raul Roco, who almost pulled out of the presidential race due to illness, got 5,017 votes.

In the vice presidential race, Arroyo’s running mate Noli de Castro got 26,601 votes, while Poe’s teammate Loren Legarda had 21,728. Two other candidates, including Padilla, each got less than a thousand votes.

Arroyo and de Castro were subsequently declared winners by the Philippine Commission on Election.

Filipino seafarers who registered for the Philippines first-ever voting abroad were given a two-month period starting March 12, 2004 to cast their ballots in Philippine Embassies or Consulates abroad. Land-based workers were given one month, starting April 12. Voting in overseas precincts ended on May 11, 2005, the day of the election in the Philippines.

Why Only Now?

Consul Germinia Usudan, who served as chair of the Special Board of Canvassers (SBOC) in Riyadh, wondered why such complaint was being raised only now.

“If there was fraud in the precinct level as Caseda et. al. claim, they should have made a protest during the canvassing of the ballots in the precinct level and again during the canvassing of the Election Returns (ERs) at the SBOC level. But there was none. We heard nothing from them.

“What kept them from manifesting their complaint(s)? Isn’t their duty to do so as watchers and leaders of the Lacson camp? Why only now?” Usudan asked.

She noted that the canvassing was witnessed by officials of the Commission on Elections from Manila and by volunteers from the National Movement for Free Election (Namfrel) and watchers from various political parties.

“Practically everybody was there to watch and observe the canvassing, but there was no protest or complaint received by the Board from Caseda et.al on any fraud during the OAV election,” Usudan observed.

She added that the canvassing of the ERs was conducted “in full view of the public at the first floor lobby of the Embassy so everyone can see and hear what is happening.”

“This is the first time I heard about this, and I am saddened by the fact that after the sacrifices that the officers and staff of the embassy made to make the overseas absentee voting in Saudi Arabia an honest and clean election, we will hear this,” she said.

‘Cheat and Liar’

Caseda organized the forum with 35 community leaders and other individuals in attendance to call for an outright ouster of Arroyo, who is being accused of having stolen the presidency from Poe, her closest rival.

Poe died of stroke late last year while in the process of contesting Arroyo’s poll victory. Poe was very popular among many Filipinos and his loss was said to have been devastating for him.

While Poe’s election protest waned as a result of his death, Arroyo is currently facing her worst political crisis after tapes of wiretapped conversations showing that she intervened in the counting of votes were made public by the opposition.

The tapes revealed the president discussing with Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano options on how to keep a one-million-vote victory over her closest rival.

Arroyo has admitted calling Garcillano but denied allegations of cheating and has rejected calls to step down by some of her own supporters — including former President Corazon Aquino, Protestant bishops, the group of business executives Makati Business Club, and educators.

Mustering support from local officials and administration lawmakers, she has vowed to fight impeachment charges filed by the opposition in the House of Representatives.

Divided

During the forum in Riyadh on Sunday, Bioux Manilum of Order of the Knights of Rizal (OKOR) said he also wanted Arroyo to step down to spare the Philippines of further polarization.

Manilum said he used to support Arroyo and even had the chance to speak with her in person when she was still a senator.

“Pero ngayon galit na ako sa kanya. Bakit kamo, e nandadaya siya eh. Pati tayo naaapektuhan, di lamang ang mga kababayan natin sa Pilipinas kundi pati tayong mga OFWs dito sa abroad. Naghihirap na ang ating pamilya dahil sa kanya, sa pandadaya at sa kanyang gobyerno kaya oust PGMA, (Now, I’m angry at her. Why? Because she’s a cheat. We, OFWs, and our families are being affected by what she had done. So let’s kick her out),” he said.

Prudencio del Mundo, president of Association of Cavitenos in Saudi Arabia (ACSA), said he also supports the “Oust GMA” campaign because Arroyo failed in her pledge to improve the country’s economy, provide jobs for every Filipino and keep the prices of basic commodities at an affordable level.

Del Mundo clarified, however, that he was speaking for himself and not for his group.

Not all of those who attended the forum agreed with proposals to oust Arroyo by means of another “people power” revolution.

Frank Naval of United OFW stressed that he came to the forum solely to honor the invitation of the organizers, who, he claimed, are his friends.

Naval said his group is non-partisan and its stand is to abide by the rule of the law in removing the president, and that is to allow the impeachment process.

“Sapagkat kundi natin susundin ang batas ay nakikita po natin kung anong klaseng Pilipinas ang kalalabasan natin, (If we don’t follow our own law, what would our nation lead to?” he asked.

Naval said this was precisely the message of his group in the manifesto that it submitted to Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and two of his undersecretaries when they visited Riyadh last month.

Both Naval and Manilum signed the controversial “manifesto” that OFW Congress President Alex Bello presented to Romulo during a dinner meeting held last month at the Philippine Embassy.

Bello has denied charges by some OFWs present during the meeting that they were misled into signing the document.

He said the intent of the document was made clear and the fact that only 38 out of more than 80 who attended the meeting signed showed that the document was not misleading.