By YVONNE CHUA

(First published in September 2005)

IN THE May 2004 elections, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo maintained a campaign organization so elaborate it even included a group dubbed “Special Ops,” an infamous abbreviation for “special operations” that many equate with “dirty tricks,” or cruder still, poll cheating.

What the “Special Ops” group under then presidential liaison officer for political affairs Jose Ma. ‘Joey’ Rufino was tasked to do—or did exactly—was not known to the president’s official campaign advisers. Up to now, many of them are still clueless about that group’s tasks.

By YVONNE CHUA

(First published on Aug. 11, 2005)

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo allegedly met Commission on Elections (Comelec) field officials not once, but twice, at her home in La Vista, Quezon City in January of 2004. On both occasions, the president asked for the support of Comelec officials for her candidacy.

And, in the first of those meetings, it was “impossible” for the President not to have seen Lubao, Pampanga Mayor Lilia Pineda, wife of jueteng lord Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda, hand over to a Comelec official a brown envelope filled with small white envelopes, each containing P30,000-bribe money for the election officials who had been invited to the presidential home.

By YVONNE CHUA

(First published in July 2005)

WHEN the official canvassing of votes ended on June 20, 2004, those who were monitoring the count already thought that the results from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) looked suspicious. Even Mahar Mangahas of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) could not help but notice the huge disparity between the Namfrel tally for ARMM and the results of the Social Weather Stations exit poll there on one hand and the congressional count on the other.

“ARMM to me from the very beginning is the place where people should look,” Mangahas said.

By BOOMA B. CRUZ

(First published on Oct. 20, 2005)

POONA BAYABAO, Lanao del Sur — "Fernando Poe, Fernando Poe." With clenched fists and his right hand raised, octogenarian Hadji Mohammad Monte repeated the name of the late action star like a mantra when asked whom he voted for in the last presidential elections. He insisted that Poe was number one among the residents of this town where the late king of Philippine movies was — and still is — very popular.

In fact, town residents cheered Monte on as they shouted, "FPJ! FPJ!" When asked, six of every 10 residents here claimed they had voted for Fernando Poe Jr. Only a few women admitted going for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but even they conceded that there was no way the movie icon could lose in a clean election here.

By YVONNE CHUA

(First published in July 2005)

OFFICIALLY, it’s President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who, according to Congress’s canvassing, posted a 1.1- million lead over opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr.

But with the subject of electoral fraud reverberating throughout the wiretapped conversations of then Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and Arroyo, people are beginning to wonder: Did the president truly win? If she did, was it indeed by more than a million votes? Or could Poe have won? If yes, by how many votes?

By LUZ RIMBAN

(First published in July 2005)

PITY party-list organizations. Although Republic Act 7941 reserves 20 percent of House seats for these groups, which are supposed to be from marginalized sectors whose interests are not represented in Congress, the reality is that it is difficult for them to win votes. That's because Filipinos are still mostly uninformed about the party-list process and the Commission on Elections has done nothing in terms of a voter-awareness campaign to remedy the situation.

Based on the Garci tapes, however, it now seems that some party-list groups that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo supported may have been counting on help from no less than a Comelec commissioner himself. In several instances, Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano was heard discussing the chances of at least five party-list groups getting seats in Congress: VFP (Veterans' Freedom Party), ALIF (Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino), ANAD (Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy), SMILE (Samahan ng mga Mangangalakal sa Ikauunlad ng Lokal na Ekonomiya) and TUCP' (Trade Union Congress Party).

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS

(First published on Aug. 11, 2005)

SOME members of the political opposition say they would be happily surprised if former Isabela governor Faustino Dy, Jr. would decide to spill the beans on what he witnessed during the many times that he was with Gloria Arroyo during the 2004 elections campaign.

That's because despite the fact that Dy has been vocal about his resentment towards Arroyo, they know that Malacañang knows Dy's vulnerabilities. "Given Malacañang's desperation, I would not be surprised if they have already started the pressure," said a politician who knows the Dys.