FINAL REPORT - Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

There are also election returns that are so irregular on their face that it is
virtually and legally impossible to canvass them. We found these in certain precincts
in Cebu 36 and Bohol. 37
Thus there are election returns that are completely blank as to make it
impossible to identify the precinct or municipality, and yet they contain carefully
recorded votes. In Iloilo, for example, ER 06202193 has no identifying marks but it
records 20 votes for FPJ and 135 votes for GMA.
On the other hand, there are also election returns without signatures of BEI
members, such as those from Manadue, Cebu. There are many other irregularities in
the returns, but those in the foregoing fashion are the most predominant.
For the major findings in the power point slide presentation of Tabayoyong that
was shown to the CCTA, we set forth the summarization published by Neal Cruz in his
column, as follows:
“In a powerpoint presentation, Legarda and her principal witness,
Segundo Tabayoyong, showed the Kapihan sa Manila forum last Monday
how the cheating was done. It was simplicity itself and very easy to do.
It was a new way of cheating, used for the first time in the elections of
2004. (Tabayoyong was a Questioned Document Examiner and former
chief of the Questioned Documents Division of the National Bureau of
Investigation. He has retired.)
Instead of changing the ballots at the precincts -- as was done in the
past, which is difficult and labor-intensive -- the cheating was done
on the election return (ER), the summary of the votes in the
precincts. Election returns of a city or municipality are totaled in
the Statement of Votes (SOV) which are, in turn, summarized in the
Certificate of Canvass (COC) for the province. It is the COCs that
are added by Congress to determine the presidential and vice
presidential winners.
What the cheaters did -- Legarda and Tabayoyong explained -- was
simply fill up new election returns, disregarding the ballots. These
spurious ERs were prepared in advance, by a special force of about 200
persons in two places in Metro Manila (one in a hotel near the Edsa
highway) and then sent to the provinces. Thus, the votes were already
counted and the "winners" known even before the voting started. It didn't
matter for whom the people voted. It was the special force that decided
the winners.
36
For reference, see Precinct 126 A and B in Basak, Lapulapu, Cebu.
37
For reference, see Precint 088-A, Ulbujan, Bohol (Page 2 serial number 05500591 is different from page 1), or
Precinct 009-A and B in Bauno, San Isidro, Bohol (page 2 serial number 05502399 is different from page 1).
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