ZAMBOANGA CITY, 5 August 2005 — A Philippine Commission on Election who exposed an alleged 50-million-peso bribery attempt by an army captain to rig last year’s election asked Filipinos yesterday not to lose hope in the integrity of the poll watchdog.

Helen Aguila-Flores, regional director of the Comelec in Western Mindanao, said there are still many people in the agency who are doing their jobs to the best of their ability to ensure honest and credible elections.

“We have been unfairly shamed and ridiculed by all these scandals despite the innocence of the majority, but I appeal to the people not to lose faith on us,” Flores told Arab News.

Flores issued the appeal as the House of Representatives ordered the arrest of former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, who has been accused by the opposition of manipulating the results of last year’s election to give President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo a one-million-vote victory over Fernando Poe Jr., her closest rival.

An impeachment complaint had been filed against Arroyo in the House of Representatives for cheating , among other charges.

Garcillano has denied any wrongdoing, but went into hiding shortly after her tapped phone conversations with Arroyo were made public last month by a former National Bureau of Investigation intelligence officer Samuel Ong, who claimed the tapes came from the military intelligence service.

Flores said yesterday she rejected the P50 million allegedly offered by army Captain Val Lopez to ensure that a local candidate for mayor, Lepeng Wee, and Arroyo win in the elections. Lopez then allegedly offered her for the second time P100 million bribe.

“He told me that he was working for Lepeng Wee and President Arroyo and that Lepeng was willing to pay as much as one hundred million in exchange for their victories in the elections,” she said.

Wee and Lopez denied bribing Flores. Both Arroyo and Wee lost in the elections in Zamboanga City, a known stronghold of the opposition.

Flores also denied accusations by illegal gambling whistle blower Sandra Cam who claimed 13 Comelec regional directors were paid two million pesos bribe during a meeting with President Gloria Arroyo in her La Vista home in Quezon City. Many of those accused said they would file libel charges against Cam.

Flores was ordered removed four days before the May 2004 elections because of death threats allegedly made by a politician in Sulu province.

Death Threat

She confirmed this for the first time yesterday and said Comelec Commisioner Manuel Barcelona phoned her to say that she would be killed if she remains in-charge of the elections in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi , all part of the Muslim autonomous region.

“I was in tears when Commissioner Manuel Barcelona Jr. told me to stay away from the elections in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. He told me that a politician from Sulu had vowed to kill me if I remain in my post,” she said.

She remembered Barcelona telling her: “You know Helen, I know that maybe someday I will even regret making this decision, and I might lose your respect, I might lose your friendship, but I have to make this difficult decision. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you under my watch.”

Barcelona later told her the death threat was made from Garcillano’s mobile phone.

Flores said she has nothing against Arroyo. “My testimony will not do any harm to President Gloria Arroyo. It will not hold water, and what I am saying is that I was being bribed by Captain Lopez, who claimed to be working for Arroyo and Lepeng Wee, and anybody can make this claim,” she said.

She admitted voting for Arroyo, and believed the president won the elections in Mindanao over movie star Fernando Poe Jr.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel also accused Garcillano of involvement in vote padding and shaving in 1995 senatorial and 1998 national elections. And charged that Barcelona was a partisan member of the Gloria Bantay Bayan, a pro-Arroyo organization that has contributed funding to the president’s campaign.

Arroyo re-instated Garcillano and Barcelona to the Commission on Elections in January last year to replace commissioners who retired. She also replaced then Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo with former-politician Ben Abalos Jr.