Comelec: We're not protecting personnel in Cagayan de Oro-CF card issue

A poll commissioner on Friday denied Sen. Aquilino Pimentel's assertion that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is trying to protect its local personnel in Cagayan de Oro City where election materials were earlier found in a garbage dump. "We are not coddling our personnel. In fact, we want to thresh out the matter," Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said on Thursday. On Thursday, Pimentel doubted Comelec officials' claim that election materials were stolen after the May 10 elections, saying it was an attempt to protect their personnel. However, the fact that the Comelec immediately formed a panel upon learning about the incident proves that it is not treating anyone with kid gloves. The three-man panel formed by the Comelec — which includes representatives from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and the National Bureau of Investigation — is already on the case. "We will get to he bottom of things and if needed, we will punish our personnel," Larrazabal assured. The Comelec maintains that the election materials were stolen and that local Comelec officials were not responsible for the materials ending up at a dump site. Based on Comelec's inventory, which along with the PPCRV, took custody of the retrieved the items, the election materials included several Compact Flash cards, election returns, ballot box padlocks, and sample ballots among other and were discovered placed inside 20 sacks. Failure of elections During the resumption of the House committee hearing on alleged poll fraud, Angeline Carrasco — legal counsel for a losing mayoral candidate in Cagayan de Oro City — alleged that the disposal of the election materials was the handiwork of her client’s rivals. In enumerating supposed cases of irregularities in their local elections, Carrasco claimed pre-shaded ballots had been used and that her client's rivals also paid off voters for P300 each. A witness had seen five people feeding "long papers" thought to be ballots into a PCOS machine at about 4 a.m. of May 7, three days before the elections, she claimed. Carrasco also complained about the absence of a projection screen and a tally board outside the precinct during the provincial canvassing. "Hinihiling po namin [sa Comelec] na mag-declare ng failure of elections at magkaroon ng re-election," Carrasco said. (We are asking the Comelec to declare a failure of elections in our city and hold another election.) - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV