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JDV denies hand in House security breach to rig '04 poll results


Former House Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr. on Thursday denied any involvement in the alleged breach of security at the Batasan Pambansa compound in Quezon City to replace original election returns (ERs) during the 2004 polls with fake ones. In an interview, De Venecia said he did not know of the break-in in 2005, since he entrusted the security of the House to the Philippine National Police (PNP) at the time. "We did not know about this... If we knew or even the opposition knew, talagang hindi tayo papayag," he told reporters. The former House leader went to the Batasan Pambansa to attend the necrological service for the late Zambales Rep. Antonio Diaz. De Venecia added that just like the rest of the country, he only knew about the breach in the House security when Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago came out with a detailed account of the switching of election paraphernalia to allegedly ensure the victory of then administration candidate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. "Totoo pala, because now, the PNP officers who implemented the break-in and who raided the House admitted that they were the ones who did it and took the genuine election returns," he said. De Venecia was aligned with Mrs. Arroyo before they had a falling out in 2008 after his son was implicated in the scandal involving a botched deal between the government and Chinese firm ZTE Corp. The former Speaker likewise admitted that the internal investigation on the breach of security the House sergeant-at-arms launched in 2005 yielded "incomplete" results. "It [The investigation] was incomplete and it was not thorough because mayroong palang break in but nobody knew about the break in," he said. He added that he is willing to testify should House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. order a fresh probe on the break-in. He likewise said that all those behind the House security breach, even Mrs. Arroyo, must be punished. — RSJ, GMA News

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