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ELECTIONS Commissioner Rene Sarmiento on Tuesday said he
would push for the reopening of the “Hello Garci”
investigation that linked some poll officials to alleged
vote- rigging during the 2004 presidential elections.
Sarmiento said he will write the Commission on Elections
(Comelec) en banc to propose that a reinvestigation of
the case be done, as some election officials mentioned
in the “Hello Garci” case are again being linked to
alleged election fraud during last month’s polls.
“I
believe it’s about time that we take a look [into this
case] again,” Sarmiento said in Filipino.
He will
also propose that those mentioned in the recorded
conversation allegedly between President Arroyo and
former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano be
temporarily relieved from their posts pending completion
of the investigation.
“If they
bear the stigma of association with ‘Garci,’ then they
have to face the investigation,” he said.
Some of
Garcillano’s trusted men were promoted to senior
positions last year as the Comelec stopped the
investigation owing to lack of a formal complaint.
Those
who were implicated in the “Hello Garci” scandal include
Rey Sumalipao, the former provincial election supervisor
of Lanao del Sur, and the province’s new election chief,
Lintang Bedol, who is now on the hot seat following the
administration’s 12-0 sweep of the senatorial race in
Maguindanao.
Sumalipao is now the Comelec regional director in the
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), directly
under Sarmiento, who is the commissioner-in-charge of
the area.
Others
who were also mentioned in the recorded conversation
were former ARMM Comelec director Rey Mabutay, who is
now regional director for Northern Mindanao; Francis
Pobe, former election supervisor of Agusan del Sur,
promoted as assistant regional director for the Caraga
region; and Renault Macarambon, who was appointed to the
Comelec’s base in Intramuros, Manila, as head of the
barangay affairs department.
Meanwhile, Mindanao lawmakers want the Comelec to take
election supervisor Lintang Bedol in their custody even
as they expressed disbelief that the municipal
certificates of canvass (COCs) in Maguindanao were
stolen.
In a
joint statement, Lakas Reps. Douglas Cagas of Davao del
Sur and Bensaing Macarambon of Lanao del Sur said the
Comelec should dig deeper into the issue because the
claim of Bedol was hard to believe.
Cagas
said that Bedol’s action was suspect because he did not
immediately inform the Comelec or the National Police
about the alleged stolen COCs.
“Is he
trying to pull everyone’s leg? Why did it take him too
long to surface and report the incident? His alibi is
too lame,” said Cagas.
Cagas
said this should compel the Comelec to dig deeper into
the issue.
“We have
been looking forward to Bedol’s appearance in the
Comelec to present pertinent COCs from Maguindanao, only
to be told that the COCs were stolen. The COCs [are] so
important in validating Team Unity’s (TU) 12-0 win in
the province,” Cagas said.
He said
that had the Maguindanao COCs been available, the
documents would have reflected TU’s victory, which he
claimed was not impossible because of the
administration’s strong political machinery in the
province.
Macarambon, meanwhile, said that the Comelec should take
Bedol in its custody while in the course of conducting a
more thorough investigation on the matter.
“Bedol
has already delayed the process and the Comelec must not
let him get away with it. He should be made accountable
for the stolen COCs,” Macarambon said.
San
Juan, Metro Manila Mayor Joseph Victor Ejercito on
Tuesday expressed fears that other witnesses of the
opposition will no longer come out and testify on
alleged irregularities during the May 14 elections and
canvassing of votes for fear of their lives, following
the killing of Musa Dimasidsing, a schools district
supervisor in Maguindanao who served as an election
supervisor in the May polls.
“Given
the reality that some witnesses nowadays are being
detained, if not killed, Ejercito said there is a
distinct possibility that some of the remaining
witnesses would retract.
Dimasidsing was one of the 100 witnesses of the alleged
massive cheating in Pagalungan, Maguindanao. He was shot
on Saturday night. |
