DOJ, Comelec name members of body to probe poll fraud allegations

(Updated 5:18 p.m.) The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday bared the composition of the panel that will jointly investigate allegations that cheating marred the 2004 and 2007 elections. Heading the committee is Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, the state's highest-ranking prosecutor. He will have the following as members: Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan, poll body lawyer Michael Villaret, Laguna Provincial Prosecutor George Dy and Pasig City Prosecutor Jacinto Ang. The five members were presented by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. at a news briefing at the DOJ. "We know we can handle this. Like the secretary mentioned, we have experience in canvassing. Like city prosecutor Ang and provincial prosecutor Dy, I was then the Quezon City prosecutor and we were vice chairs of the Board of Canvassers," said Arellano. The DOJ and Comelec are set to issue a joint order outlining the scope of the functions of the joint committee. After which, the panel will then thresh out the ground rules governing the conduct of its probe. Only then will committee begin its investigative proceedings. "The proceedings will start not necessarilty with the presentation of witnesses, but with the evaluation of available records or evidence. On the basis of the evaluation of the available documents, they [panel members] will determine who will summon or subpoena as probable respondents, and that's the time the investigations are set to commence," said De Lima. De Lima also underscored that the aim of the inquiry is not to proclaim winners in the 2004 and 2007 elections, but to validate claims that there was massive cheating in the controversial polls. "This is to determine if electoral fraud was committed," she said. The nature of the upcoming inquiry will also be a preliminary investigation, which seeks to determine if there is probable cause that warrants to file a case against a respondent before the proper courts. She also said there was no legal impediment to the creation of a joint investigative body because the Comelec has the authority to probe election offenses whlie the DOJ has the mandate to probe violations of penal laws. Part of the evidence already gathered by the body include the 38 election returns (ERs) turned over by the group of Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago, who admitted to taking part in the break-ins at the Batasan Pambansa building in early 2005. The operation turned out to be the replacement of original election returns (ERs) with fake ones to cover up for the alleged cheating in the 2004 presidential polls, which was won by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Santiago submitted his sworn affidavit to the DOJ earlier in th day, while the former members of his team, five active Special Action Force (SAF) policemen, submitted theirs last Tuesday. — RSJ, GMA News