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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ]CITY OF MANILA ]AFFIDAVIT

I, MELCHOR G. MAGDAMO, of legal age, with address at 54 Sarimanok Street,Mira Nila Homes 7Io7 Quezon City, after having been sworn in accordancewith law, hereby depose and state that:With training from the University of the Philippines College of Law, I havebeen an Attorney since 02 May 1995 and had rru-.rors in-depthexposures as Legal Consultant in anti corruption investigations, firstinvolving high ranking officials at the Government Service InsuranceSystem (from April 1gg7 to December r99z) and later involving highranking officials at the Department of Agrarian Reform (from O1 Olctober2oor with a series of contract renewals lasting until mid 2004).From o8 November 2oo4 and for three years until 30 November 2oor, rserved as court Attorney of the supreme court, where, in addition to myregular duties, I served as "Member" and later as *Vice Chairman,, of theTpcHucer- woRrrxc GBoup (TwG) of the Bros eNn Awnnos covvr*en (BAC). Idid not expect and it carne as a surprise that my moderate exposure togovernment procurement laws was to become the reason for mywhirlwind hiring into another government agency with a colorfulprocurement history - the conrr,rissroN oN Er-pcnoNs (coMELEC).on 24 March 2oo8, I heard news that a high ranking COMELECAttorney was shot dead while walking peacefully near the front of theCOMELEC main office. The following day, I was told to go to theCOMELEC main office and be a coMELEC Attorney. I did go "" told, brrtfor the purpose of politely declining the suggestion, for, no man in hisright mind is willing to be another target. However, being a survivor of afar worse situation before, having been face-to-face with a hostile tanklast 23 February 1986 during the historic First People Power Revolution,it was awkward for me now to walk away cowardly fiom the call of duty.Performing my duty, the first bidding I was able to observe in coMELECwas on the first day of April 200s (April Fools Day). It was the biddingfor the oprcar- Mam Rnenrn (oMR) system for certain areas in theAurouorraous Rpclori tN Musllr,r Mrxnenao (ARMM). Presiding over the biddingwas the COMELEC Executive Director and concurrent BAC ChairmanJose Mdntndan Tolentino. Except for the BAC Chairma.n, all the otherBAC Members were mysteriously missing. The BAC TwG Head was alsomysteriously missing. The BAC Secretariat Head was also mysteriouslymissing. I tried asking my co-observer seatmates (representatives ofelection watchdogs) why in a bidding involving, with due-respect, no lessthan the cheating capital of the philippines, the BAC chairman wasfunctioning like a one man band. No one was abre to give a satisfactoryanswer. Be that as it may, there were only two bidders: Actiue Buslnesssolution and Auante. However again, the demo oMR machine of Actiuewas also missing, so Auante became the last surviving bidder.Sometime later in the month, chairman Jose A. R. Melo was out of thecountry and the Acting chairman was then Former Justice Romeo A.

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6. Among others, the documents describe a continuation of a project forVorBn Rpctsrnarlox Reconos (VRR) costing more than 2OO Million pesosplus another 1oo Million pesos, therefore a total project price ofapproximately 3OO Million pesos.6.I. More specifically, the project involves 335,549 holders/binders and53,359,800 plastic fillers (Memorandum Ns Jor-s4g dated30 october 2oo7 of Judg L. Lorenzo thru Diuina s. Blas perez toExecutive Director Ho Jose s. Joson). Initially, the proponent wassilent about its cost, and so the Commission En Banc resolved torefer the cost aspect to the ElpcnoN BeRaNcay Ar',r,erRs DppaRrveur(EBAD) for estimation (En Banc Minute Resolution Ns 06_0rg2dated 27 JuIy 2006).6.2. Regrettably, the cost per item remained unclear for more than ayear until after 14 February 2008 when the FrNaNcB SonvrcnsDepanmtnNt (FSD) issued a Certification that 99.582 Mi[ion pesosis available for the purchase of VRR binders and plastic fillers,chargeable against the 2oor Barangay Election Funds(Certification issued on 14 February 2008 by Budget Officer MindaZita M. Jongko and noted by Director Eduard.o D. Mejos.6.3. on 19 February 2008, then Acting chairman Romeo A. Brawnerwrote a memorandum to BAC chairman Jose M. Tolentino, Jr.,the pertinent part of which reads:

In connection with the procurement of binders and plastic fillers forvoters Registration Records, please hold in abeyance the conduct of thepublic bidding for said items until such time as the commission en banchas been fully apprised by the Finance Services Department of the cufinancial status of the Commission.6.4. In Memorandum Ns Jo8-009 dated 11 March 2oog, Attorney JudgL' Lorenzo urgently requested Acting Chairman Romeo A. Bratanerto approve the purchase of 42,ooo vRR binders and g,400,000plastic fillers, claiming that the said items are necessary for theARMM elections which was then still five months away.6.5. The Commission En Banc resolved to confirm the action taken byActing Chairman Romeo A. Brananer on the suspension of biddinguntil after the FSD submits a report on the Commission's currentfinancial status (En Banc Minute Resolution Ns 0g-0364 dated11 March 2008).6.6. Later, in that very srme En Banc meeting, some ciever characterwas able to recycle the proposal back to the En Banc again, anevent that is highly unusual and irregular. The documEnt is aMemorandum dated 07 March 2oog signed by no less than theExecutive Director himself, Jose M. Tolentino, Jr.6.7 The commission En Banc reiterated holding in abeyance anybiddin of said items

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6.8' On 29 April 2OO8, the Commission En Banc resolved to schedulethe presentation of the FSD report on 14 May 20og (En BancMinute Resolution Ns O8-0497 dated 29 April 2OOg).6.9. surprisingly, on 12 May 2oo8 or two days prior to the 14 May2008 reporting date, the Executive Director and concurrent BACchairman Jose M. Tolentino, Jr. went on ahead with the biddingof VRR holders/binders, plastic fillers, and thumb and fingerprinttakers, in open defiance of the clear directives in En Banc MinuteResolutions Ns 08-0364 and 08-0375.6.10. Emerging as one of the winners from the openly defiant biddingwas a single proprietorship using the name "OTC paper Supply,,.Realizing the power of the Executive Director who can openly defy or atleast sidestep the En Banc, my anti corruption efforts became thl topicof ridicule. Just the same, I persisted even if my output fell on deaf ears.Some of the memoranda which I co-authored with Executive AssistantRamon Paterno Aquino thru Retired Brigadier General (now HeadExecutive Assistant| Edgardo M. Gurrea, were:,/ 07 october 2oo8 memorandum against the excuse of usingintellectual property..rules for escaping from the GovernmentProcurement Reform Act (GPRA) (Republic Act Ns 91g4).'/ 04 February 2oo9 memorandum pointing out the tailor-fitting of

printers in favor of an ink monopoly.'/ 26 February 2oo9 request for clarification in an ombudsmanproceeding (RAS-C-08-2646) that attempts to halt instead ofprosecute the 16.69777669 million pesos plus 12.1935415 millionpesos scam by a forwarding company.,/ 17 March 2oo9 memora-ndum against what is perhaps the mostexpensive warehouse lease in the Philippines.'/ 29 May 2oo9 "very important motion for clarification" (with former

Information Technologr Department Director Ernesto R. DelRosario as co-author) against the attempt of Smartmatic to escapefrom the transmission test. Even until today, either Smartmatic orsome powerful coercive group behind Smartmatic are hellbent onbotching the transmission aspect of election automation.Among the other contributory efforts, in cooperation with planningDirector Esmeralda Amora Ladra, concern the enormous overprice ofba-llot printing in the National Printing office, from as high as p34.oo perballot, down now to the present level of P2.2O per ballot.Among the major frustrations are the sincere efforts to equip each ballotwith a very effective but inexpensive anti fake ballot safeguard systemfrom Nautilus Secuity Technologles, similar to that of the Euro Currenctt,

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10. It is interesting to note that ftom 2O to 25 January 2OIO, during the schedule ofcomparative testings between Nautilus Seatrttg Technologi".-u.r*r" anothercompany that refuses to undergo a test, BTI eAd.uantage, Executive DirectorTolentino had been sending numerous text messages to Director Ladra, andDirector Ladra showed me some of those text messages, ordering the stop of alltestings. Incidentally, the asking price of Nautilus Securitg Tecinotogie-sis onlyPl.9O per ballot while that of B?/E was p6.2S per document.One irregularity after another came pounding hard against the image of theCOMELEC, some of which appear to be deliberate. I did my best to-exerciserestraint and keep cool until sometime in March when a saw in the Office of thechairman a lady by the name of Emilg G. cam Bacoto, complaining againstwhat she claims to be an infringement of her intellectual property .i"gtrt to .secrecy folder design, accusing orc paper Supply of being ". .opy".i. I-told herto raise her grievance before the Intellectual Property Office. - When she saidthat the price of OTC is 38O Pesos Per Folder, I iold her that it may be only atypographical error because the price of the originai folder is only pB.gO somaybe the decimal point fell into the wrong location. Just the **., I told herto submit her own bid come bidding day.Bidding day for the secrecy folder never came. Later, talks about the secrecyfolder grew more intense because the price proposal is really 38O pesos perFolder which adds up to an astronomical budget of almost 689 Miflions pesos!I tried to visit BAC Chairperson Maia Lea R. Alarkon. Unfortunately, wheneverI go to her office, I see Executive Director Tolentino inside.As a word of caution, my officemate, Matias Gimeno Din, lo1d, me to be carefulbecause a "sindikato" wants to silence him, and I may be the next target. onSaturday 13 March 2oro, I heard news that Matias Gimeno Din16ad t-o go onleave "for health reasons" and to visit his son.I am aware that his son Rafael Dln was a scholar of the Philippine Science HighSchool and later a scholar of the University of the Philippinei but who went upto the hills as an ideological leader of one of the Bicol region command of theNew Peoples Army. His fellow Bikolano, Doctor Artain A. Serrano, the pazussPasroRal, Couxctl roR Respoxsrele VonNc (PPCRV) representative to the BAC, hadsince then been asking me if the "sindikato" is really holding as ,,hostage,, theautomation project, the success of which the En Banc holds so dearly.On 15 March 2O1O, sensing the seriousness of the turn of events, I sent a lettervia e-mail to the PPCRV. On 22 March 2OIO,I signed the letter in front of thePPCRV representative and Law Director Ferdinand r. Rafanan.

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/r,l il lt tJUW( 4rt /U c,-t /.-tnoMELCHOR G. M]q,GDAMOAFFIANTSUBSCzuBED and SWORN to before me on lS APRIL 2O1O inPursuant to the 2OO4 Rur.ps oN NorARrar, Pnacrrcn (Supreme Court AM-02-8-13-SC;"""Irti.;promulgated on 6 July 2004 effective 1 August 2OO4), the affiant, appearing in person beforeme on a single occasion, presenting competent evidence of identity lvafia identificationdocument with picture) (COMELEC Identification Card No lo-!!frel) aof law to the truth of t]lis affidavit.Document /Sf

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