Adaza presents Morato as informant on alleged poll fraud

Lawyer Homobono Adaza on Wednesday came back at the ongoing House probe on alleged poll fraud, presenting Manuel "Manoling" Morato as his informant on the supposed involvement of regional election officials in poll manipulation. Adaza said Morato — a former chairman of the Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during the Ramos administration — was the one who told him that officials from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had offered a presidential candidate poll victory in exchange for P1 billion. In last Tuesday's hearing, the Comelec challenged Adaza to identify the four poll regional officials reportedly engaged in poll irregularities. [See: Comelec to Adaza: Name rotten apples in poll fraud]

On Wednesday's hearing, the House Committee on Suffrage suggested that Morato reveal his information in an executive session, and not in public. "Gusto ni Manoling open. Gusto nila executive session. Eh, bakit ba parang tinatago nila," Adaza told reporters after storming out of the hearing with Morato. After being interviewed by reporters outside, the two went back inside the Andaya Hall, where the hearing was being held. "Hintayin natin ang mga sasabihin niya [Just wait what Morato has to say]," Adaza said. "I just want to help the people of this country. Hindi naman ako kandidato ngayon eh [I am not even a candidate in the elections]," Adaza said. Adaza claimed Tuesday that a person, who he refused to identify at that time and close to a presidential candidate, had told him that four regional Comelec officials had "orchestrated" cheating in the May 10 elections. One of the poll officials had even reportedly bragged being the chief operator in the "Hello, Garci" cheating in the 2004 presidential elections, where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won. Morato has failed twice in seeking different national elective posts, first when he sought a Senate seat in the 1992 elections. In the 1998 elections, Morato placed last in the 10-way presidential race, getting only 18,644 votes of the total 26.9 million votes cast. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV