During the brief term of his immediate predecessor, Alfredo Benipayo, a war had raged in the Comelec, with the combatants no less than the commissioners themselves.

Today, calm has finally descended once more on the Comelec, and there are those who credit that to the appointment of a politician to chair the body. Even Felipe Miranda, president of the private survey firm PulseAsia, remarks, “Abalos has been able to tame for the meantime temperaments that have a tendency to turn ballistic.”

To be sure, the affable Abalos apparently knows just how to soothe ruffled feathers and tend toes that have been stepped on. Yet having him head the Comelec may turn out to be not that good an idea at all. After all, the former chief of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) still sits in the national directorate of the Lakas-NUCD, the party of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. While the Comelec has had its share of commissioners who were politicians, it is the first time in the country’s history that an active political party leader is serving as the poll body’s top gun, a fact that can give rise to questions regarding conflicts of interest during elections.

According to the Constitution, the Comelec is supposed to be “an independent constitutional body capable of giving substance and meaning, through the electoral process, to the democratic principle that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”

This early, though, questions are being raised whether or not the Comelec can remain independent under the helm of Abalos, who is not only known for his unflagging loyalty to the Lakas-NUCD, but who also acknowledges a close friendship with First Gentleman Miguel ‘Mike’ Arroyo, as well as with siblings of the president herself.

In addition, he admits having personal ties with the owners of the Photokina Marketing Corporation, contractor of the controversial P6.5-billion Voter Registration and Identification System (VRIS) project awarded during the time of President Joseph Estrada — the very same contract that was the center of one of the bigger disputes that erupted between Benipayo and some of the commissioners.

In an interview with the PCIJ, Abalos said that he is a godfather of two children of the Chua family, which owns Photokina. He also said that in the past, he had served as lawyer of the Chuas, handling “one or three cases for them. That was between 1981 to 1984.”

As for the First Gentleman, Abalos said that Mike Arroyo, a lawyer, used to appear as counsel of litigants in his sala. A 1957 law graduate of the Manuel L. Quezon University, Abalos became auxiliary judge of Makati and Pasay in 1963. The following year, President Arroyo’s father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, appointed him Manila fiscal, and later, lone municipal judge of Pasig. He retired as a judge in 1979.

Abalos said that he and Arroyo had “built a common bond because we are both golfers.” He added that last March, “while we were in Shanghai, Mike talked to me and told me, ‘Would you consider if the President would consider you for the position of Comelec chairman?”

At the time, Benipayo was still Comelec chief.

Abalos also enjoys friendships with other members of the president’s family. He is the godfather of the son of President Arroyo’s half-sister, Cielo Salgado. Abalos told the PCIJ that he is “close to Arthur,” the president’s brother.

Lakas-NUCD insiders described Abalos as someone who can be counted on, “a good party man” who “delivers the votes.” One of them went as far as saying that Abalos “will not betray the party” as Comelec chair, and that “he could even be the eyes and ears of the party in the Comelec.”

Abalos himself conceded, “No man has no bias. We all have our leanings.” But he added that “when somebody takes his oath of office, it is that oath that binds him to the position. It is that oath that really separates you, even from friends and relatives.”

Abalos said that even when he was still a member of the bench, there was “no instance” when he was “branded as a biased judge.”

He said that he had readily accepted the post of Comelec chair because it had been “my obsession, my dream.” According to Abalos, his experience of being cheated in two of his bids for public office, as well as his having “political savvy,” qualify him to head the Commission.

So far, however, the 66-year-old has yet to adjust his work habits to fit the long, lonely hours of poring over documents that are required by the position. A man given to cognac and whiskey until recently, Abalos likes to frequent coffee shops in the mornings, and as a norm hies off to his seven fishponds on weekends. Now into his first month in office, Abalos visits the Comelec usually after lunch, stays for a few hours and leaves late afternoon — a work pattern too short and too irregular.

The self-proclaimed “father of the Comelec” has also astounded Commission insiders and observers alike with his generosity, which has already depleted the body’s savings of millions of pesos. On his first week at work, Abalos had authorized a performance incentive pay equivalent to one month’s salary for all of the Comelec’s 5,200 personnel. At an average salary of P10,000 per personnel, that financial windfall given before last week’s election translates to some P52 million.

Abalos also approved the purchase of seven new cars for the commissioners, at the cost of P1.2 million each. This is despite their having been already issued two to four cars each, including Grandias, Chevrolet Ventures and Stratas.

Gone too are the days when snacks served at Comelec meetings consisted of mere crackers or fastfood meals at best. Nowadays, Abalos calls commissioners to session at uppity restaurants at posh hotels, and at least once last month, at one of his properties in Iloilo.

As Abalos sees it, though, he is doing only what is necessary. He also said, “I came from the field. I know the hows of elections, how cheats operate. If you are a technocrat, you don’t know the realities of politics.”

Abalos had run for vice mayor of Mandaluyong in 1963, but lost to a scion of a political family. He spent the next several years in a so-so career in the bench — although he himself says he was named outstanding judge for 10 straight years — before returning to politics, aided largely by a partnership he forged with the late Senate President Neptali Gonzalez, then an opposition leader. He ran for mayor of Mandaluyong in 1980. Abalos claims he won in the count, but that the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos had prevented him from serving as mayor.

With Marcos ousted, President Corazon. Aquino installed Abalos as Mandaluyong’s Officer-in-Charge (OIC). In the next 12 years, he would hold on to the post of Mandaluyong mayor, courtesy of three poll victories in a row. In May 2001, Abalos’s son Benhur, ran and won as mayor of Mandaluyong. Benhur belongs to the Lakas-NUCD. He is determined to run again as mayor, while another Abalos son plans to run for councilor or congressman, in 2004. When asked how he would handle the situation, Abalos replied: “I could always make somebody else in charge of Mandaluyong.”

Abalos had become part of Lakas-NUCD in 1991, when he and the rest of Gonzalez’s group bolted from the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino over a Senate leadership rivalry with Sen. Edgardo Angara. To this day, Abalos remains an active and avid Lakas party leader, and has since never lost an election — or complained about cheating.

“Parang poetic justice,” he told the PCIJ. “What is happening to me is parang kusa ng Diyos (as if God had meant it to happen). As if He is saying, ‘Ben, I’m putting you there because you have experienced how it is to be cheated.’”

“In 1963, I was cheated,” said Abalos. “In 1980, I was cheated. Then I became mayor of Mandaluyong for 12 years, at may interest pa — my son was elected mayor. Bakit ganoon ang Diyos, lahat ng dasal ko sinasagot (Why is God like that, He is answering all my prayers)?”

Abalos admits he is not exactly prayerful or particularly religious. But he says he prays direct to his God. And, indeed, Abalos has a lot to be thankful for.

Born to poverty in Pangasinan on September 21, 1935, he had supported himself through college by working as a janitor, factory worker, and caddy at the exclusive Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club. But today, Abalos is a powerful and rich man — although the extent of his wealth is not fully reflected in his statement of assets and liabilities (SALs). In his latest filing for the year 2001, when he served as administrator of the Metro Manila Development Authority, Abalos declared total assets of P21.7 million (including P6.56 million in real properties and P15.2 million in personal and other properties), and total liabilities of P3.67 million.

This means a net worth of only P18.0 million, including P4.1 million in land and improvements and fishponds, and P2.4 million in building and properties. The amounts declared seem much too low for the expanse of Abalos’s fishponds. In the interview with PCIJ, he said his fishpond in Paombong, Bulacan, alone measures 240 hectares, a property he said he acquired in the ’80s, after retiring from the bench.

In a newspaper interview in 2001, Abalos said he had also acquired about 250 hectares of fishponds in several towns of Iloilo province, where the Comelec held its en banc session a fortnight ago. Five other fishponds that Abalos has admitted he owns are located in Dagupan, Binmaley and Lingayen in Pangasinan; Lubao, Pampanga; and Pilar, Bataan.

Abalos’s 2001 SAL includes the following companies among his business interests: Love-Joy Commercial Corporation based in Mandaluyong and engaged in trading; Corben Farms Inc., based in Baras, Rizal, and engaged in operating livestock farms; and BSA Fishpond, based in Balanga, Bataan. In all three companies, Abalos is a major stockholder.

But when asked if he also owns corporate assets or equity, Abalos, a lawyer seemingly oblivious to the concept of conjugal property, gave a curious reply: “Not me, but my wife does.”

One apparent material omission in Abalos’ s SAL, though, is his share in the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club, which he acknowledges to be worth at least P7 million.” It used to be worth P26 million but it went down after the financial crisis,” he said.

Abalos in fact is president of the Club that also counts the First Couple as members. Former President Fidel V. Ramos has been an Abalos golfing buddy for years. Abalos readily admits that the greens are often where the biggest political deals are made.

“In all these (golf) clubs, deals and transactions are conducted, some relationships are made,” he said.

Last June 27, the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club under Abalos, who by then was already the Comelec chair, hosted the First Gentleman’s Cup to mark the birthday of Mike Arroyo, and to benefit a group called OYSTER, supposedly composed of the families of policemen.

Abalos reported that through corporate sponsorships organized by Antonio Cabangon-Chua, a retired military officer and magazine publisher, the golf event raised P40 million. The Comelec chief made clear that any political implications of the gathering are immaterial to him. He said, “Is it bad to help somebody who is willing to give up his life for you? Bakit ayaw nating tulungan (Why shouldn’t we help)? Why condemn this activity?”

It is a response that can perhaps only be expected from someone called by a Lakas stalwart and presidential adviser as “Mr. Collegiality.” The adviser also said that Abalos’s humility is no put-on, and that while the Comelec chief may be a politician, “this is in a positive sense.”

“If he could make that work not just within the Commission but also within the electoral community, that would be good,” said the presidential adviser.

PulseAsia’s Miranda, however, seems to want something more. He noted that since 1998, when turf wars and effete leadership started to shake up the Comelec, there has been a progressive decline in the poll body’s public approval rating.

“I think what you should have there is a person who knows the law, has the stature of a Supreme Court justice who can assert his independence,” he said. Unfortunately, said Miranda, “most of the time presidents look for somebody you can hold by the nose, so the Comelec has become politicized. The Comelec has become a post for political lieutenants, not even captains.”



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