Poll Fraud and Rebellious Elite Philippine Military Units

FOUR WEEKS LATER, it can be confidently said that the State of National Emergency under Proclamation 1017 on 24 February 2006 was decided upon by President Arroyo because she became convinced that at least three elite military or police units were set to WITHDRAW SUPPORT from her regime and join Opposition forces led by former President Corazon Aquino calling on the President to resign. The military units that almost broke the Chain of Command were the best the Philippines has by way of trained security forces-the First Scout Ranger Regiment under West Pointer General Danilo Lim; the First Marine Brigade of Col. Ariel Querubin; and the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police under P/Supt. Marcelino Franco. Unless one is willing to believe the fairy tale that these units were involved in a Leftist-Rightist coup plot with the CPP NPA, the following even more disturbing connection among all three units may have to be considered: They were all used in poll fraud operations during the 2004 national elections.

THAT FORT BONIFACIO MARINE STAND-OFF: It is a sign of abnormal times that disturbing things happen inside military installations which are mysteriously resolved and the government wishes the Mass Media had not even bothered to cover the event and for the Public to believe there is nothing to be concerned about. For example, on Sunday, 26 February 2006, a most puzzling and disturbing event unfolded outside the Philippne Marine General Headquarters inside Fort Bonifacio in Makati City. In Marine Standoff (via PCIJ) all kinds of now famous names surfaced to roil an otherwise peaceful third day of Proclamation 1017 -- Col. Ariel Querubin, General Renato Miranda, General Nelson Allaga, Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, General Danilo Lim, General Generoso Senga. But here is one name that may not be so famous as the ones above but whose loud, pained and impassioned voice is featured in the following sound clip from Pia Hontiveros' television show this week (Strictly Politics, ANC ABSCBN News)
LT. COL. ARCHIE SEGUMALIAN AT FORT BONIFACIO
26 FEBRUARY 2006
THE ROOTS IN LANAO: This short audio clip suggests one possible explanation for the Fort Bonifactio stand-off. Clearly distraught and impassioned, Marine officer Segumalian impressed the members of Media who were covering the early part of the Fort Bonifacio standoff as having something important to say about the Marine's role in the 2004 Lanao election operations and what that had to do with the developing crisis, which would be resolved, mysteriously in just a few hours after Segumalian's outburst. My translation of part of his statements that Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. -- "No one can point to anything...All we have done since Lanao ... in the elections...all we wanted was a clean election!" [Sorry, this is best appreciated by bilinguals.] Significantly these Marine officers, Ariel Querubin and Archie Segumalian who figured in the Fort Bonifacio incident were in fact members of the very unit referred to in this definitive expose on what happened in Lanao in 2004 as told by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in Lanao's Dirty Secrets.

GARCI AND THE GENERALS: Yet many mysteries remain. These officers know a lot more about the Military and Politics, especially in the 2004 National Elections than the Public has apparenetly been allowed to know. But we can connect the dots ourselves and lacking credible official explanations, we can draw our own conclusions from the reasonable hypotheses. An immediate connection was made by many people to the conversations in the allegedly wiretapped Hello Garci recordings that mention several Generals that have indeed figured largely in these events. Here is Pia Hontiveros show's broadcast of that pertinent bit --

MANILA TIMES reported in July, 2005 that in the Garci Recordings, several big name generals were mentioned in connection with election operations involving the military in the ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) -- "Military generals who were mentioned in the tape include retired Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, who headed the Southern Command at the time of the election; Maj. Gen. Hermo­genes Espe­ron, the former chief of Task Force HOPE (honest, orderly and peaceful election), who oversaw security in Mindanao; Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, the former chief of Task Force Ranao; and Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, the former commander of Task Force Comet.. "

ELECTION LAWYER LILA DE LIMA was talking to Pia Hontiveros on the same Strictly Politics episode along with Newsbreak's GIGI GO and MARITES D. VITUG. Her description of the wholesale post-elections poll fraud in 2004 is simply absorbing --

Lawyer Lila de Lima
2004 Post-election Fraud at Canvassing Level
Mindanao ARMM Election Returns, SOVs, COCs
Why the Alleged Break-in at Batasan

The next body of substantive journalism that must be considered lies in the work of Newsbreak Magazine. Last September 12, the magazine published a story entitled Cheats, Inc in which the post-proclamation operations of an election operator, a certain Roque Bello are exposed. This week, Newsbreak Magazine, published a follow up article bylined Miriam Grace A. Go entitled Faking It all about the alleged photographic and videographic revelations of a mysterious information source developed independently by Newsbreak, some of whom are "disgruntled members of the Bello group."
MARITES VITUG and GIGI GO of Newsbreak discuss the connection of the PNP Special Action Forces to the Batasan Break-in and the Fort Bonifacio Standoff with Pia Hontiveros CHIEF OF STAFF MICHAEL DEFENSOR denies, Ninez Cacho Olivarez ripostes
A disturbing hypothesis emerges about why three elite military units almost broke the Chain of Command last February 2006--the First Scout Ranger Regiment under West Pointer General Danilo Lim; , the First Marine Brigade of Col. Ariel Querubin; and the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police under P/Supt. Marcelino Franco. It is this: They were used to assist in the conduct of poll fraud operations in the 2004 elections. It is their sense of honor that agitates them. They have been prostituted to partisan political purposes and they just don't like it.