NBI arrests 5 persons ‘selling’ party-list seats

MANILA, Philippines—Three women and two men claiming to have strong connections for securing party-list seats at P10 million to P15 million each were arrested in an entrapment operation at a hotel in Manila by the National Bureau of Investigation Thursday.

NBI agents arrested the five, who were described as suspected members of a syndicate that sold party-list seats through connections in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Malacañang.

Members of the NBI’s Field Operations Division arrested Joel Carreras Pelo, Mary Anne Fujiwara, Maria Elizabeth Pabalan, Fudenciana Malinao and Wenceslao Malinao.

The five claimed to have connections in the Comelec and Malacañang that could guarantee at least three seats in the House of Representatives for party-list groups willing to pay, according to Roland Agrabioso, head of the NBI division.

Some NBI officials, however, said they believed that the five were simply con artists who were preying on gullible victims.

It wasn’t clear Thursday how the suspects are able to secure House seats through their supposed Comelec or Malacañang connections. The NBI will present the suspects to the media on Friday.

Palace employees?

A report by TV station GMA 7 Thursday night said the suspects introduced themselves as Malacañang employees.

But Gary Olivar, deputy Palace spokesperson, said in an interview with GMA 7 that Malacañang was unaware of the existence of a syndicate selling party-list seats or of the operations of the arrested suspects.

Marginalized sectors are allowed representation in Congress through the party-list system, but militant groups protested what they said was the bastardization of the process by groups allied with the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

One target of protests was the party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy, which was supposed to represent private security men but whose first nominee is former Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, the President’s elder son.

Agrabioso said the five suspects were arrested in an entrapment operation past 3 p.m. at the coffee shop of Century Park Hotel in Malate, Manila.

Complaint by Buhay

The entrapment was planned in response to a complaint filed with the NBI by several party-list groups, including Buhay, a party-list group associated with the religious group El Shaddai.

Bong Arriola, Buhay spokesperson, told GMA 7 that his group was approached by the suspects offering House seats for a fee.

Arriola, in the same TV interview, quoted one suspect that he did not identify as saying that the seats were guaranteed because key provincial election supervisors who would help in the racket are all in Metro Manila.

Mel Robles, Buhay chair, said in a phone interview with Philippine Daily Inquirer that some of his people were approached by the suspects about two days ago.

“Their offer was ‘We will make you No. 1’ and assure you of early proclamation,” Robles said the suspects told his people.

Robles, also administrator of the Light Rail Transit Authority, quoted members of Buhay as saying the suspects introduced themselves as “political operators with connections.”

The suspects, according to Robles, wanted to touch base with Rene Velarde, the incumbent Buhay representative and son of El Shaddai founder and leader Mike Velarde.

Suspects get marked money

The NBI quoted the groups that sought its help as saying the five suspects offered to secure House seats in exchange for P10 million to P15 million per seat. Robles, however, said his information was that the suspects were asking for P45 million.

A coordinator of one of the party-list organizations sought a meeting with the suspects at Century Park Hotel. The coordinator tipped off the NBI and the entrapment operation was laid out.

As soon as the suspects received the marked money, the NBI agents announced the bust.

The suspects are in NBI custody pending the filing of criminal charges with the city prosecutor’s office.

In 2007, the chair of Bantay Republic Act 7941, an organization monitoring the implementation of the Party-List Systems Act, told Inquirer that a group of fixers promised the accreditation of party-list groups or assured their victory in exchange for P1.2 million to P7 million.

The arrests came just as the NBI tapped two of its units to investigate two cases of allegations of fraud—one made by defeated mayoralty candidate Anne Susano and one circulating in the Internet about a supposed wiretapped phone conversation between Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Election Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer.

Other cases probed

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring directed the agency’s Special Task Force and Anti-Computer Crime Division to investigate how compact flash cards used during the elections ended up in the hands of Susano, who lost miserably in the mayoral race in Quezon City.

Mantaring said the units would also investigate a supposedly wiretapped phone conversation between Puno and Ferrer on how to manipulate results of the country’s first automated elections on May 10.

Puno and Ferrer denied that the voice in the supposed wiretap was theirs. –Jeannette Andrade, Philippine Daily Inquirer with Cyril L. Bonabente, Inquirer Research