Comelec, DOJ to conduct joint probe on '04, '07 polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Department of Justice (DOJ) will be conducting a joint investigation into allegations that there was fraud during the 2004 and 2007 elections, the Comelec spokesman said Wednesday. In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Comelec education and information director James Jimenez said Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima have agreed "in principle" to conduct a joint investigation into the contested elections. Jimenez said the agreement was reached after De Lima met with Brillantes at the poll body headquarters in Intramuros, Manila on Wednesday morning. He noted, however, that they don't know how the investigation will be conducted yet. "Details will have to be worked out in the next few days," Jimenez said. The joint investigation was announced after Sen. Panfilo Lacson filed a resolution seeking an inquiry into the alleged massive poll fraud during the same period through former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and several election officials. Bayan Muna Representatives Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares also filed House Resolution 1475, directing the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms to conduct a similar inquiry. Sen. Francis Escudero has likewise filed Joint Resolution No. 11 which seeks the creation of a fact-finding commission that would supposedly bring closure to allegations of massive poll fraud which allegedly benefited Mrs. Arroyo. But Jimenez noted that the decision to conduct an inquiry was their own and was not influenced by the resolutions filed by the lawmakers. "Bago pa man nag-escalate, sinabi na namin na open kami sa investigation (Before this even escalated, we already said we were open to an investigation)," he said. 2004 polls Mrs. Arroyo won in the 2004 presidentials elections after garnering 12,905,808 votes over the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.'s 11,782,232 votes. Poe claimed that Mrs. Arroyo had robbed him of his electoral victory. He died on Dec. 14, 2004 but his widow, Susan Roces, pursued the protest. In March 2005, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) dismissed the protest. In June that same year, a taped conversation about alleged vote-rigging between a woman presumed to be Mrs. Arroyo and a man presumed to be former poll commissioner Virgilio Garcillano surfaced. It became known as the “Hello Garci" controversy. Just recently, Brillantes, speaking as Poe's lawyer, maintained that the late actor was the real winner in the 2004 elections. Because of this pronouncement, Jimenez said that there is a possibility that Brillantes might inhibit himself from the probe. "Hindi lang naman siya ang Comelec (He is not the only one in the Comelec)," he said. 2007 polls Early this month, former Maguindanao elections supervisor Lintang Bedol and suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan also tagged Mrs. Arroyo in rigging the 2007 polls. In his affidavit, Bedol said he was ordered by Mrs. Arroyo through the Ampatuans to ensure that then senatorial bets Lacson, Alan Peter Cayetano, and Benigno Aquino III would “get zero votes" in Maguindanao province during the 2007 elections. The votes were allegedly transferred to candidates allied with Mrs. Arroyo, particularly Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who has since denied involvement in any poll fraud. De Lima: No need for me to inhibit For her part, De Lima said she does not see the need to inhibit from the DOJ's inquiry even if she used to represent Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, who was supposedly cheated of victory in the 2007 polls. Pimentel is still contesting before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) that the last seat in the Senate belonged to him and not to Zubiri. "I think I can be objective enough in determining the truth because it's not my intention to help Koko in his election protest. That is the province of the SET, that is the mandate of the SET," she told reporters at the Justice Department. She likewise clarified that the DOJ does not have the jurisdiction to declare anyone as an electoral winner. "[The DOJ's jurisdiction] is really to determine the truth and who should be held accountable for all tehse fraud irregularities," De Lima said. — with Sophia Dedace/RSJ, GMA News