Defense chief: Election ‘cheating has begun’

DEFENSE Secretary Norberto Gonzales said “cheating has begun” in favor of two presidential candidates for the May 10 elections.

Speaking before a meeting of the Bishops-Ulama Conference and government officials in Davao City, Gonzales said money has changed hands as efforts to rig the result of the May elections have started.

“I’m telling you that the cheating has begun. I’m telling you that some money is being distributed to some Comelec (Commission on Elections) officials already these days. There will be cheating in the coming elections,” Gonzales said.

He said that aside from Comelec officials, military and police officers were also offered money — the amount of which he could still not ascertain — to “engineer” the results of the elections in favor of certain candidates.

“Now, how will the protectors of the people meet this? How are we going to meet this challenge? What really saddens my heart is that there will be (continued) attempts, despite our pronouncements that the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) will be nonpartisan in these elections. It seems to be that this noble effort of our men and women in uniform are not being respected…There will be and it has begun,” Gonzales said.

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Gonzales repeated his claim about efforts to rig the elections in favor of at least two presidential aspirants.

He would not name the two presidential candidates but added that their names had already been “floating.”

“What I know is it might benefit two of the presidentiables,” Gonzales said.

Asked whether or not the presidentiables that would reportedly benefit from the election fraud were close rivals – at least in the surveys – Gonzales begged off.

“No more…at least two presidentiables. I decided to announce this right away so that it can be stopped,” he said.

Gonzales said the identities of the groups behind the efforts to rig the elections were not clear yet but he learned about their activities “three days ago” from an executive of the Comelec.

Report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer