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By Rommel C. Lontayao, Reporter
Benjamin S. Abalos Sr. was born into a poor
family in Pangasinan on September 21, 1935. The Abalos family
subsisted on farming up to the war years, and then moved to Manila
to seek better fortunes, which unfortunately never came easy.
Determined to break out of poverty, Abalos studied law while taking
odd jobs as a janitor, factory worker and caddy at the Wack Wack
Golf and Country Club.
Upon graduating with a law degree from the
Manuel L. Quezon University, Abalos provided legal services to the
poor pro bono, which helped him land a position as a trial judge. In
1963, Abalos ran for vice-mayor of Mandaluyong, but lost to a member
of a strong political family, whom he accused of cheating.
At in a previous interview, he told The Manila
Times that he felt so bad at the time that he was tempted to join
the New People’s Army, the military arm of the communists.
Instead, he continued to serve as judge for the
next 10 years and was even named as outstanding judge. In 1980,
Abalos ran for mayor of Mandaluyong. He was prevented by
then-President Ferdinand Marcos from assuming office.
In 1986, after the People Power Revolution,
President Corazon Aquino appointed Abalos as officer in charge of
Mandaluyong. Two years later, he ran for the mayorship of
Mandaluyong City and won.
He contended for the same post and won in 1992,
1995 and 1998, allowing him to serve as Mandaluyong mayor for three
consecutive terms.
Abalos was also an active member of the Laban ng
Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), when he and others in a group led by
Neptali Gonzalez split over Senate leadership rivalries with Sen.
Edgardo Angara. He became part of the Lakas-National Union of
Christian Democrats (Lakas-NUCD), which supported former Defense
Secretary Fidel V. Ramos’ successful bid in the 1992 presidential
elections.
It was under Abalos’ term that Mandaluyong
became a full-fledged city on February 9, 1994.
In February 2001 or right after EDSA 2, Abalos
was appointed chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development
Authority (MMDA). Before his appointment as MMDA chairman, Abalos
was busying himself as president of Wack Wack Golf Club.
On June 5 of the following year, Abalos was
appointed chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). His
term was supposed to end on February 15, 2008.
Since becoming the chairman of the Comelec, it
has been the subject of controversies. In February 2003, the Comelec
opened the bidding for a poll automation project with an approved
budget of P2.5 billion. Two companies—Mega Pacific eSolutions Inc.
and Total Information Management Corp.—bidded for the project.
Mega Pacific, with a bid of P1.2 billion, was
awarded the project where it will supply 1,191 automated counting
machines that was to be used by the Comelec in the 2004 elections.
However, the contract was found to have several legal lapses, and
was eventually disapproved by the Supreme Court.
Allegations of widespread fraud in the 2004 and
2007 elections also tainted the image of the Comelec and Abalos.
If that was not enough, the Comelec chairman
later found himself embroiled in the controversies surrounding the
$330-million National Broadband Network project between the
Philippine government and Chinese firm ZTE Corp.
He is being accused by Jose “Joey” de
Venecia 3rd, son of House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., of brokering
the deal for ZTE, whose executives are friends and “golf
buddies” of Abalos. Then National Economic and Development
Authority head Romulo Neri also accused Abalos of bribing him to
favor ZTE.
He resigned on October 1, insisting that he is
innocent was and treated unfairly.
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