Palace hands off on poll sabotage probe, denies offer to Melo

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang would be hands off on the investigation into the alleged sabotage of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in some areas.

Speaking to reporters, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it would be up to the Commission on Elections to investigate the matter.

The Comelec is an independent constitutional body, he added.

Lacierda rejected criticisms that Monday’s polls became chaotic because of lack of preparation.

“Let me state for the record that the barangay elections are a previously scheduled elections,” he said.

“That is something that the Comelec is fully cognizant of. They were aware of it and were supposed to prepare for that. The fact is, the President already mentioned his preference that the barangay elections should push through and we should not be blamed.”

Lacierda said the executive branch should not be blamed for the lack of preparation of a constitutional body tasked to supervise the elections.

“It’s not our fault, it’s something that the Comelec was aware of and should have prepared for regardless of what statements from the other legislators were concerned,” he said.

Lacierda said the poll body is responsible for the elections. “They supervise the elections, they deputize the PNP (Philippine National Police), they do all these stuff necessary for the conduct of the elections,” he said.

“So you cannot blame us. It’s a constitutionally independent body regardless of whatever the discussions between the House (of Representatives) and the executive as regards whether we postpone the barangay elections or not. Comelec should have been there doing the job.”

Lacierda said Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri should not pin the blame on President Aquino or on the executive branch.

“Again that is a non-sequitur statement on the part of Senator Zubiri,” he said.

‘We did not sabotage polls’

The head of the Comelec’s Packing and Shipping Committee (PSC) belied yesterday allegations that they had sabotaged the packaging of the election paraphernalia for last Monday’s barangay and SK elections.

Lawyer Rey Doma, SC chairman, said doing personal delivery is a “headache” but that many “people in the Comelec” had volunteered to deliver the supplies.

“They would come here to my office, bugging me. They are like vultures waiting for trips,” he said

Doma said each volunteer is given as much as P50,000 in cash advances for food allowance, per diem, hotel accommodation and vehicle rental on their own discretion but subject to liquidation.

“Of course some of them earn from doing that but it’s not so much,” he said. “The per diem is P800 (a day).”

Sources said some Comelec personnel had messed up the labeling of the supplies while being packaged at the National Printing Office.

Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco, head of the fact-finding committee created to investigate the sabotage, said those who would be found to have manipulated the preparations might face an election offense punishable with up to six years imprisonment and removal of rights of suffrage and administrative case.

“Personally, I don’t believe there was a plan to sabotage the elections. If there was, maybe it was at a lower scale. Maybe for personal gains (only),” he said.

A list obtained by reporters showed that 36 individuals were involved in the delivery and they belong to the Comelec’s Administrative Service Department, Planning Department, Personnel Department, Election and Barangay Affairs Division and Election Records and Statistics Division.

The Comelec had also utilized “deputized drivers” from government agencies like the Department of Budget and Management, Government Service Insurance System, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Public Works and Highways and Land Bank of the Philippines.

They brought the ballots and election returns to Sorsogon, Misamis Oriental, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Sultan Kudarat, Agusan del Sur, Quezon-Gumaca, Compostela Valley, Marinduque, Kalinga, Quezon, Bohol, Pangasinan, Negros Occidental, Camarines Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Mountain Province, Abra, Quirino, Cagayan Valley, Nueva Vizcaya, Apayao, Benguet, Isabela and Laguna.

The panel is set to include in its investigation the PSC, the Comelec’s Bids and Awards Committee and the NPO.

Belmonte OKs inquiry

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has given the go-signal to the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms to inquire into the conduct of last Monday’s barangay and SK elections.

With the Speaker’s go-signal, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. told reporters yesterday that he has set a hearing for Nov. 9 at 9:30 a.m.

Invited to the hearing were Comelec officials led by Chairman Jose Melo, officers of the state-owned National Printing Office and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.

“We have to find out what happened, what caused the delays so they won’t happen again,” he said.

“We have to propose remedial legislation if needed.”

Barzaga said they would focus on the delayed delivery of ballot boxes and other paraphernalia to about 2,000 barangay communities.

“We also would like to find out why 4,000 barangay officials who are disqualified from running for having served the maximum three terms were allowed to run again,” he said.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said the Comelec should blame itself, not Congress for the chaotic conduct of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in many areas on Monday.

“The Comelec has only itself to blame for its unpreparedness. There is no excuse for bungling its job. The law mandates that there’s going to be barangay and SK elections on Oct. 25,” he said.

Aurea Calica, Philippine Star