Opposition Hallucinating about 2010 Poll Cheating

September 18, 2009

Assistant Secretary Brian Raymund Yamsuan of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday scoffed at claims of government-staged cheating in the 2010 elections as “mere hysterics from delusional men” who foresee the imminent electoral defeat of the mainstream opposition in the hands of the powerhouse “Gibo-Ronnie” tandem of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

Given the impending victory of the “Gibo-Ronnie” team of Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro and DILG Secretary Ronaldo “Ronnie” Puno in the 2010 polls, Yamsuan said these critics “are now seeing ghosts where there are none and are pathetically trying to condition the public’s mind that the only way Lakas-Kampi-CMD can win big in 2010 is by rigging the balloting.”

Yamsuan said these critics are having nightmares while awake because they have obviously realized that the Gibo-Ronnie team will win big-time next year on two counts:
       (1) it will run on an effective and efficient campaign anchored on the sterling performance and
                achievements of the Arroyo administration as against mere proposed changes of the
            opposition; and
       (2) the administration slate already has a head start in the presidential race, owing to the built-in
            25% support base of President Arroyo in the crowded field of at least four or five major
            contenders. 

“These doomsayers are worried sick of a Lakas-Kampi-CMD victory on the strength of the Gibo-Ronnie tandem that they are beginning to hallucinate about wholesale cheating and have started peddling such delusions as the only justification for the opposition’s dismal loss in 2010,” Yamsuan said.

Worse, he said, they are having nightmares while awake about an even bigger bogey, which is that such poll fraud will be staged by Puno in his capacity as overseer of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The secretary is concurrent chairman of the National Police Commission (Napolcom). 

“Reality does not support their doomsday scenario,” he said in pointing out that a number of facts puncture this myth of administration-orchestrated poll cheating next year.

First, he said, these delusional men are forgetting that next year’s elections will be fully automated, which will be an antidote to electoral fraud.

Second, Puno has never been implicated in any kind of electoral fraud during the time that he helped run the presidential campaigns of former President Ramos in 1992, ex-President Estrada in 1998 and President Arroyo in 2004, he said.

Although Ramos started as an underdog in the 1992 race, he eventually won on the strength of a campaign that focused on optimizing support from pro-administration voters while numerous opposition rivals battled each other over the votes from anti-administration voters.

Estrada’s landslide victory in 1998 spoke for itself, more so because he was running at that time on the opposition ticket, he said.

Although there were allegations of cheating in 2004 in connection with the “Hello, Garci” controversy, such charges were never proven by the opposition, he said.

Moreover, Yamsuan added, these delusional men have forgotten that Puno never figured in that controversy.

As for the charge that Puno would use the PNP to help rig the polls, Yamsuan said the critics are also forgetting two things: (1) the PNP is a highly professional force that will not lend itself to electoral fraud, and (2) Puno will have no control over the PNP during the elections as he will leave the DILG at the proper time ahead of the official campaign period.

He pointed out that the National Executive Committee of Lakas-Kampi-CMD merely reached a consensus in its Sept. 16 meeting that Teodoro and Puno were its “preferred” candidates for 2010.

Thus, he said, Puno will have to step aside as DILG secretary by the time he and Teodoro are officially named the party’s presidential and vice-presidential bets during a national convention that will be held during the period prescribed by the Commission on Elections.