Comelec, Senate 'coordinating' in poll fraud probes

The Commission on Elections and the Senate will continue to "coordinate" their actions in investigating alleged fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections. Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. stressed this Wednesday, a day after he submitted documents related to poll fraud in 2004 to the Senate. "Nagko-coordinate kami with the Senate para makitang sabay itong investigation. Ultimately pupunta kami sa filing ng kaso for 2004 and 2007, lahat na findings ng Senate sila in aid of legislation, kami for purposes of investigation and filing in court of criminal offense of electoral sabotage at election offenses. So tumutulong din kami sa Senado," he said in an interview on dwIZ radio. "Walang duplication yan (There is no duplication of investigations)," he added. He said the documents he submitted Tuesday included the results of municipal and provincial boards. "Imbes na i-subpoena, volunteer namin yan para di sila mahirapan mag-collect ng documents (To save the Senate time in subpoenaing documents, we volunteer to submit them instead)," he said. On the other hand, he said the Senate will pass on to the DOJ-Comelec the evidence on poll fraud that it will gather during its investigation. "So ang Senate gusto nila legislative measures tapos lahat makukuha ng Senado na ebidensya ipa-pass on sa DOJ-Comelec panel for purposes of filing in court (The Senate will craft legislative measures to prevent future poll fraud, but it will also pass on the evidence it can collect to us for purposes of filing in court)," he said. At present, Brillantes noted that while the Senate's probe is concentrated on the poll fraud in 2004, the DOJ-Comelec is more focused on fraud in 2007. He said the DOJ-Comelec panel is focused on the 2007 poll fraud since there are indications of electoral sabotage in 2007. — LBG, GMA News