PIMENTEL SAYS MARTIAL LAW MIGHT HAVE BEEN DECLARED
TO CONCEAL ELECTORAL FRAUD

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. today urged the Comelec to take custody of the ballot boxes and other election paraphernalia reportedly confiscated along with a cache of firearms and ammunition by military units that raided the Ampatuan mansions recently.

He said that one possible reason for the martial law declaration might be to cover up the massive fraud that marred the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections in the province.

The opposition leader said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts are afraid that the Ampatuans may expose the rigging of election results in Maguindanao that enabled her to win over opposition challenger Fernando Poe, Jr. in the 2004 elections and administration candidates to sweep the senatorial polls in the province in 2007.

"The Ampatuans have threatened that if the government would nail them down, they would reveal what really happened in the past two elections," Pimentel said.

He said he was informed that during the series of raids conducted by the military and police forces, they discovered and confiscated ballot boxes containing election documents.

The minority leader said he was also told that election officials assigned to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have been ordered to examine and take custody of the documents.

He said he is worried that the election documents may be tampered with or destroyed because certain election officials in the ARMM were involved in the cheating operations in the 2004 and 2007 polls.

Pimentel said it should be the officials of the Commission on Elections in Manila that should scrutinize and take custody of these documents. He suggested that the team from Comelec main office to be dispatched to Maguindanao should be led by Atty. Fernando Rafanan, head of the legal department.

"But due to martial law, the public may not be able to know what is happening. The people are afraid to speak. Even journalists may not be able to report the truth because of threat to their lives. Warrantless arrest are being enforced and they can be picked up on order of martial law authorities," he said.

Pimentel said he finds no legal grounds for declaring martial law as a means of going after the perpetrators of the November 23 massacre of 57 innocent civilians.

He argued that the conditions laid down by the Constitution for imposing martial law are not present in Maguindanao, specifically the threat of rebellion and invasion by an external force.

"What happened in Maguindanao was that members of the Mangudadatu family and their companions, including lawyers and journalists were ambushed, abducted and massacred. Where is rebellion there?" the senator from Mindanao said.

Pimentel said even military commanders dispatched to Maguindanao reported that while they were able to confiscate huge cache of firearms and ammunition from the weapons arsenal of the Ampatuans, they saw no indication that these political warlords and their followers were attempting to fight back.

"Clearly, there is no basis for the claim that there is a threat of rebellion from the Ampatuans. May be this is just a gimmick to say there is a ground for martial law. But as I see it, this is just a ploy to hide the evidence of massive cheating in the last elections," he said.

Pimentel said he and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile have agreed that the Senate will first meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow (Monday) to discuss the President's martial law proclamation. Then on Tuesday, he said the Senate will hold a joint session with the House of Representatives at the Batasang Pambansa building in Quezon City.

He said the President is required to report to Congress within 48 hours from the time she declared martial law. The President may personally before the legislature or submit her written report.

Pimentel said if Congress finds no justification for the martial law declaration, it can overturn the President's action and she could not veto it.

He said that while the Constitution prescribes a 60 day period for the effectivity of martial law, it can be shortened if warranted by circumstances.

Pimentel said the Senate is likely to vote against the martial law declaration if it is not convinced of the grounds cited by the Chief Executive. But he said the voting at the House may turn out to be different because it is dominated Mrs. Arroyo's legislative allies.