The Philippine Online Chronicles

Former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chair Manuel Morato came forward at yesterday’s poll fraud hearing, saying that he was offered a “sure victory” for the candidate he was supporting, Gilbert Teodoro, for a price of P1 billion.

“I was visited by seven people offering their service regarding the forthcoming election, but it was not being offered to me because I was not a candidate. It was being offered to presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro through me. I was supposed to be the conduit because they could not get hold of [Teodoro],” he said.

At the House committee on electoral reform and suffrage hearing, Morato said that the people who approached him were poll operators in the employ of the Commission for Elections (Comelec). Of the seven who approached him, Morato identified two as "Bong" and "Artie" although he did not get their surnames.

According to Morato, he talked to the men although he did not really intend on taking them up on their offer, to draw as much information from them as he could. The operators supposedly told Morato that it was possible to change the results of the elections through altering the source code of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, changing the memory cards, and manipulating the transmission.

"I’m completely ignorant of operating any computer. I am not a technical man. I can only understand the basics," Morato admitted.

When Morato told the men that, “it was out of character for [Teodoro] to indulge in such an operation” the operators supposedly changed their offer, saying that rather than assuring Teodoro’s victory, they would protect him from being cheated. The men also began haggling with Morato, bringing down the price to P750 million – with P250 million to be paid immediately and the rest to be given after the elections.

Morato’s claims are similar to the ones made by the anonymous “Koala Bear” witness who said that mass rigging occurred in the elections, and Surigao del Norte Governor Ace Barbers who earlier alleged being offered a victory for a large amount of money.

Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez however, raised the possibility that Morato was approached by con men without real means of changing the elections results.

“I don't know if anyone would consider a proposal where the end result is not clear, where one would have to make a down payment of P250 million. That is a fantastic story as far as this representation is concerned. I don't know any politician who would even consider that proposition,” he said.

The hearings of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms have been focused on investigating allegations of cheating during the country's first automated polls earlier in May. The probe, which has called in officials from Comelec and the poll body's corporate partner Smartmatic-TIM, as well as various information technology experts, has looked into whether it is possible to cheat by manipulating the PCOS machines or the compact flash (CF) cards used therein. Members of the committee have also visited a Smartmatic-TIM warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna to check the PCOS machines and CF cards stored there.