PCIJ
THE PCIJ has been tracking down Michaelangelo "Louie" Zuce since mid-June this year, when two sources, a Moro politician based in Mindanao and a former Commission on Elections (Comelec) employee in Manila, told us to look for a nephew of the controversial Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
The nephew, we were told, was "Garci's" connection to Malacañang, because he worked in the political office there. We were told to hunt down "Louie" because he was a mother lode of information on election fraud in Mindanao.
Louie, they said, was Garcillano's bagman and trusted operator. The Comelec commissioner, our sources said, sent his nephew to Mindanao to monitor fraud operations there, together with Renault Macarambon, a Mindanaoan lawyer detailed at Garcillano's office.
Interestingly, both Zuce and Macarambon are referred to in the May 25,2004 conversation between the commissioner and Juanito "Johnny" Icaro, Comelec Region 4 director. In that call, Garcillano says that Mrs. Arroyo was assured of victory in Lanao del Sur. " Mananalo siya talaga (she will really win)," said Garcillano. "Nandun si Louie, Macarambon eh. Pababantayan ko (Louie and Macarambon are there. I'll have them guard it)."
Special elections were held in seven towns in Lanao del Sur on May 22, and it was likely the results of this voting that the two Comelec officials were referring to. In a May 29 conversation with the President, Garcillano also said that he was expecting more votes for her to come from Lanao del Sur.
In the conversation with Icaro, Garcillano also talked about the count in Cotabato City, where the canvassing was delayed and eventually moved to Manila. Garcillano relayed the news that the President was losing in the count by about 40,000 votes. He subsequently had a similar conversation with the President, also on May 29, assuring her that her losing margin will not exceed 40,000. " Pero hindi ho siguro sosobra ng 40, ma'am."
It would seem from these conversations that Icaro was playing a "special" role in the counting and was possibly part of the monitoring operations for the President. As Region 4 director, he had no business inquiring about the count in Mindanao.
According to Zuce, Icaro was with him and Garcillano in the January 2004 meeting between Mrs. Arroyo and Comelec field officials. At that meeting, Lilia Pineda, wife of the controversial Pampanga jueteng lord, allegedly gave Icaro an envelope containing smaller envelops of cash that were in turn distributed to the Comelec personnel.
Zuce's participation in election campaign was confirmed to us by a high-level campaign strategist of a top senator. Zuce, this source said, was first involved in the 2001 senatorial elections as a "shepherd."
Zuce's lawyer, 2001 senatorial candidate Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, said that she got to know Zuce, who acted as one of the Lakas shepherds in the first election during the Arroyo presidency. A "shepherd," in the language of campaign personnel, is one who coordinates the transport and other arrangements for candidates, making sure that they make it to rallies and whistlestops.
"His role in 2001 was tagasundo, he makes sure candidates show up, etc.," said the campaign strategist. "Usually, that is how a political operative begins. And then he moved on to be a political officer in 2004, meaning that he holds meetings with local politicians, coordinates hotel, transport, etc. All political operatives I called know him."
What this strategist didn't know is that after the campaign, Zuce, as he now claims, had also been recruited to be part of the post-election fraud operations in Mindanao. And in the pre-campaign period, he also helped organize meetings and dinners were payoffs were made to Comelec field officials in Mindanao. Zuce's rapid rise in the political operative ladder he owed to his uncle, whose position in the Comelec and dagdag bawas expertise made him an invaluable ally of candidates like Mrs. Arroyo.
In the "Hello Garci" tapes, there are two recorded conversations between the Comelec commissioner and his nephew. The first took place on May 28, 2004 when Garcillano asked Zuce and Cagayan de Oro businessman George Goking, who is also a Pagcor director, to come to his house for a meeting that had originally been set to take place at the Silahis (now the Grand Boulevard Hotel) on Roxas Boulevard. Garcillano said that it was not wise to meet in the hotel because there were a lot of pro-FPJ sympathizers in the area near the hotel. At that time, canvassing was taking place at the PICC complex off Roxas Boulevard.
Zuce, who confirmed to the Senate yesterday that he was among those recorded in the "Hello Garci" tapes, called his uncle again on June 16 to tell him that he and "George" (apparently Goking) were at the Harrison Plaza. In both conversations, Zuce addressed Garcillano as "'cle," short for uncle.
In our search for Louie, we asked Malaya columnist and occasional PCIJ contributor Ellen Tordesillas to check with her Malacañang contacts. In late June, she called Political Affairs Undersecretary Ray Roquero and was told there was no such person in his office. (Zuce was employed in Roquero's office until last May.) Other people we asked couldn't give us any further leads.
When Zuce surfaced in a hurriedly called press conference on Monday morning, our search was over.
