The Philippine Online Chronicles

A non-bailable jail term may await former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, former first gentleman Juan Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, if the joint investigating panel of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commission on Elections (Comelec) finds them guilty of directing the rigging of the senatorial polls in Maguindanao in 2007.

The Arroyos may face a case of electoral sabotage, a nonbailable heinous crime that is punishable by life imprisonment.

“There can be no other case. If you look at the magnitude of the votes involved, it is definitely tantamount to electoral sabotage,” Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told the media.

On Monday, he and DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima presented Norie Unas, the latest government witness to be named on the 2007 election irregularities. A former right-hand man to Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., Unas claimed to have direct knowledge of the rigging.

In an affidavit, Unas, who also served as provincial administrator of Maguindanao, said that shortly before the 2007 elections, he heard President Arroyo instructing Ampatuan to deliver a 12-0 win for her candidates. This directive was later firmly reiterated to Ampatuan by the first gentleman.

On Tuesday, Senator Panfilo Lacson said a new witness will appear before the Senate, as opposed to Unas who appeared before the DOJ-Comelec panel, to corroborate Unas's account. The witness is said to have been in direct contact with Malacañang during the election period as he and and other members of the “special ops” of Ampatuan were working on fake election returns (ER).

“It will be detailed, including how they maneuvered the votes against opposition candidates, where they got the fake ERs, where they were transported,” the senator said. He also said the new witness had worked with Unas.

In addition to the accounts of Unas and the new witness, the admission of 15 election officers in Maguindanao that there were irregularities in the province will also be held against the Arroyos, strengthening the possible charge of electoral sabotage, said Brillantes.

A further statement from detained former Maguindanao Election Supervisor Lintang Bedol will also help in the case, according to Brillantes. “We are asking him to submit a supplemental affidavit since we believe he knows more than what he already stated,” he said.

President Benigno Aquno III's spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Unas's testimony is strong evidence as it is “personal knowledge.” He said he will leave the evaluation of the testimony to the DOJ and Comelec, but to him “it appeared that [Unas] was very confident of being able to state for the record that he was able to hear former President Arroyo giving the order.”