Melo mulls charges vs ballot folder whistleblower

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Jose Melo on Thursday said he is considering filing libel or slander charges against one of the whistleblowers in the botched P690-million ballot secrecy folder deal. In an interview, Melo said he is thinking of filing charges against his former staff, lawyer Melchor Magdamo, for tagging him as one of the poll body officials who are involved in alleged anomalous contracts connected with the elections, including bidding for indelible ink. "Hindi naman siya pwede magdadaldal nang ganun (He cannot talk about me like that)," Melo told reporters. The poll body chief issued the statement after Magdamo said in a television interview that he was suspicious why Melo did not follow his suggestion to stop the bidding for the indelible ink used in the May polls, even when no bidders supposedly passed the process. But Melo countered that the Comelec went on with the awarding of the contract because there was no time to conduct a rebidding. "Definitely we could not have gone into elections without the indelible ink," he said. He likewise said that a second testing of one of the bidder's indelible inks proved that their product meets the standards set by the Comelec. The contract to supply and deliver 720,000 bottles of indelible stain ink was eventually awarded to Texas Resources Corp. for P76 million last March 29. Texas was the same company that supplied the ink during the 200 Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections. For his part, Melo said that Magdamo's assertions were made out of ill will. "He's not the one who decides these matters," he said. Ballot folder controversy Melo even questioned why Magdamo did not report to him directly when the latter first learned about the "overpriced" ballot secrecy folder contract. "I placed him sa Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to be my eyes and ears... walang report (but I received no report)," he said. Magdamo first reported the supposed irregularities in the contract to Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan, who told Melo about the matter through a letter. Upon receiving the letter, the Comelec en banc scrapped the contract because the contract to supply and deliver 1,815,000 pieces of 25-inch long ballot secrecy folders for P690 million was supposedly "extravagant beyond the ordinary needs of the Commission." It also said that the number of folders to be purchased exceeded what was actually needed during the elections. Melo admitted that the Comelec en banc and the BAC committed a "lapse" in judgment when it awarded the contract to One Time Carbon (OTC) Paper Supply. The poll body likewise created a three-man panel last April to look into the recommendation of the BAC to award the contract to OTC. No results yet However, the panel headed by Rafanan has yet to release a report of its findings. Also on Thursday, Melo said Rafanan asked the en banc for another extension for still unknown reasons. "Ewan ko sa kanya, tanungin ninyo siya (I don't know why, you should ask him)," he said. Rafanan could not be immediately reached for comment. In a separate interview, BAC chairman Lea Alarkon said the department head has been sending them notices regarding the probe and that they have been complying with them. "We believe we have submitted all the records concerning the procurement... the documents will speak for itself," she said. On Wednesday, the poll body said that it has also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the ballot folder controversy. — RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV