This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com).
Vol. VI, No. 21, July 3, 2006
Petitioners Want All Comelec Commissioners
Charged Supreme Court petitioners on the
anomalous Mega Pacific election automation contract believe criminal
charges should be filed against Commission on Elections (Comelec)
officials involved, including Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos, and not
just Commissioner Resurreccion Borra. Augusto Lagman, head of the Information
Technology (IT) system of the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel)
and one of the complainants in the case, expressed dismay that Ombudsman
Merceditas Gutierrez only recommended to the House of Representatives Borra's
impeachment for his participation in the voided P1.3-billion contract supposedly
for the automation of the May 2004 elections. Citing the Supreme Court decision on the
automated machine anomaly that said there are individuals in the Comelec
"capable of entering into void and illegal transactions," lawyer Harry Roque
said this means that "criminal individuals (are) manning the Comelec." Instead of impeachment, Lagman said, criminal
charges should be filed against the commissioners involved including Abalos who
had command responsibility. Roque agreed, saying only the president of the
country and Supreme Court justices have immunity from suit and not election
commissioners. Aside from Abalos and Borra, other
commissioners who signed the contract were retired commissioners Luzviminda
Tancangco, Ralph Lantion, Mehol Sadain and Rufino Javier. Lagman added they sense a cover up in the
ombudsman decision by singling out Borra. Borra testified at a Senate hearing
that there was cheating in the May 2004 elections. He also said the ombudsman
decision was already ready by December 2005 before Gutierrez entered the office
but was only released on June 30. Although the Supreme Court nullified the
contract in January 2004, it did not prevent the Comelec from paying Mega
Pacific. Lagman said the government continues to pay P3 million for storage
alone of the machines that Mega Pacific refused to take back. He also questioned the credibility of the
election commissioners involved in conducting the 2007 elections. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Media Center Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified. BY
AUBREY MAKILAN
Posted 5:53 p.m. July 3, 2006