Comelec exec wants poll chief probed by Ombudsman, IBP

A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official is asking the Office of the Ombudsman and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to investigate Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. for allegedly violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. In a phone interview with GMA News Online, former Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan said Brillantes, in an en banc meeting last Aug. 24, asked him to convince the Ombudsman to "absolve" Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chief Maria Lea Alarkon and lawyer Allen Francis Abaya, whom the Ombudsman suspended in connection with the ballot secrecy folder anomaly. Rafanan said Brillantes thought he was related to Ombudsman's spokesman Asryman Rafanan. "[He said] I want to help these two, Alarkon and Abaya. [He said] you know the nitty gritty of this case, you know how to absolve them," he said. Rafanan said by making this request, Brillantes violated Section 3 Paragraph A of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which says that it shall be unlawful for public officers to "persuade, induce, or influence another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with the official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced, or influenced to commit such violation or offense." "Bakit naman ako papaloko eh ako nag-investigate," said Rafanan. "Ang medyo masama ang loob ko pa, ako nag-investigate at nag-recommend ng administrative and criminal charges, nagagaanan pa nga ako sa parusa." Rafanan said the Office of the Ombudsman was supposed to slap a one-year suspension on the officials implicated in the ballot folder controversy, but that the punishment was later on slashed in half, just like how Brillantes wanted it. Comelec: Rafanan motivated by resentment In a text message to GMA News Online, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said Rafanan's accusation was "unfortunate." "First of all, the Chairman never asked him to help get the two absolved, what the chair wanted was to get clarification on the sentence of all three suspended officials," he said. He said considering that the three Comelec officials were found to have committed only simple negligence, the one-year suspension was deemed "too harsh." "It is not against the law to seek clarifications or even to petition for lower penalty in consideration of validly mitigating circumstances," Jimenez said. "It is very clear that Director Rafanan's pronouncements are clearly intemperate and perhaps motivated more by resentment than reason." Rafanan was temporarily relieved from the law department to be able to concentrate on the Comelec-Department of Justice (DOJ) joint panel set up to investigate the alleged irregularities in the 2004 and 2007 polls. But last August, the poll body removed Rafanan from the joint panel for criticizing the Comelec. He was transferred to the planning department. - KBK, GMA News