Comelec asks Ombudsman to look into botched ballot folder deal

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said that it has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to also investigate the botched contract for the supply and delivery of "overpriced" ballot secrecy folders for the automated polls. The Office of the Ombudsman — which investigates and prosecutes erring government officials — is already looking into how the contract could have been almost awarded to One Time Carbon (OTC) Paper Supply, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said on Wednesday. The P690-million contract involves the supply and delivery of 1,815,000 pieces of 25-inch long ballot secrecy folders, priced at P380 each. "Chairman (Jose) Melo wrote a letter to the Ombudsman to have it investigated... that was the decision of the en banc, we asked for it to be investigated," he told reporters in an interview. The poll body had earlier scrapped the contract because it was supposedly "extravagant beyond the ordinary needs of the Commission." It also said that the number of folders to be purchased exceeded the total number that may actually be used during the elections. Melo had also admitted that the poll body en banc and the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) committed a "lapse" in judgment when it awarded the contract. The poll body "detected" the irregularity in the contract through whistleblowers Dr. Arwin Serrano of the Parish Pastoral Councilfor Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and Atty. Melchor Magdamo of the Comelec chairman's office. But Larrazabal said that the two will not be the focus of the probe. "It's the incident, not the people (but) it's really up to the Ombudsman how to conduct the investigation," he said, adding that they have yet to receive any updates from the Ombudsman about the matter. Earlier, the poll body also created a three-man panel to to look into the recommendation of the BAC to award the contract to OTC. However, it has yet to release the results of its investigation. Despite this, Larrazabal said the results of the poll body's own probe will not go to waste. "Not necessarily, it's a parallel investigation," he said. On Tuesday, the whistleblowers were invited to an en banc meeting where Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer repeatedly yelled and pointed at Serrano for supposedly lying to the Commission. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV