ASIDE from a few sentences on election reform, poll fraud was not tackled during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s state of the nation address. Yet Halalang Marangal is adamantly keeping the issue alive.
Halal’s fourth audit report concludes that “there were statistical and circumstantial evidence indicating that the results from Maguindanao were fraudulent, yet these were accepted by the National Board of Canvassers as part of the official results.”
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, a Team Unity (TU) candidate, was the “biggest beneficiary” of the Maguindanao CoC fraud, adds Halal, because the statistically improbable results from six Maguindanao municipalities gave him a 19,292 vote-margin over bitter rival Aquilino Pimentel III and propelled him to the winner’s circle.
Halal is calling for a thorough investigation of the Maguindanao election fraud.
Read Halal’s fourth audit report.
Other findings of the 25-page report include the following:
- Essential information were missing or plain wrong in the election reports of one-third of all the cities and provinces canvassed, indicating laxity bordering on negligence and/or incompetence on the part of Comelec (Commission on Election) officials who prepared, submitted, or accepted those reports.
Aside from the 
Teams were then dispatched to Lanao del Sur, General Santos City, Cotabato City, Cebu City and Davao City, where Bedol was ultimately found. Information was on a “need-to-know†basis. Police officials in the areas involving the search were kept in the dark for as long as possible, until Bedol was found. Indeed, PNP officials from all over Mindanao who were having a training at Camp Catitipan in Davao City that day claimed they knew nothing of the arrest.