DOJ-Comelec fact-finding report on poll fraud out Thursday

A fact-finding report by the joint Department of Justice-Commission on Elections (DOJ-Comelec) on the investigation into alleged poll irregularities in previous elections will be released on Thursday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Wednesday. "Iyong imbestigasyon ng fact-finding, tapos na. The fact-finding team is just fine-tuning the report. Tomorrow ire-release na. May nililinis lang na certain portions," De Lima told reporters at the Justice Department. De Lima said the team was supposed to have released the report last Monday but deferred it after Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III made a last minute filing of an electoral sabotage case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for supposedly ordering electoral fraud in the 2007 polls. "Dapat Monday or Tuesday ire-release but because nag-file ng complaint si Koko at may humabol pang affidavits like Bedol's supplemental affidavit kaya na-defer ng kaunti," she said. "Ini-input lang ang tungkol sa complaint ni Sen. Pimentel. Tomorrow puwede na i-release," De Lima added. The Justice chief said a preliminary investigation or PI could start as early as next week. Summons will then be issued to respondents, requiring them to file counter-affidavits, before the clarificatory hearings are held. De Lima was confident that the joint DOJ-Comelec probe would not overlap with the one currently being conducted by the Senate. "Ang informal agreement namin ni [Comelec]chairman Sixto Brilliantes is that kami ay magfo-focus sa 2007 dahil karamihan sa sinubmit sa amin ay 2007 while ang sa Senate ay sa 2004 poll fraud... Nakita niyo naman sa Senate heairing, [former Shariah judge Nagamura] Moner's group [was] all about 2004," De Lima said. The findings are 'partial' The Senate's findings, as well as the affidavits it collected on the 2004 poll fraud, could then be "referred" to the joint DOJ-Comelec committee and integrated with the findings surrounding the 2007 elections. De Lima said the findings are "partial" because the joint team is focused on the 2007 elections. "Pero halos kumpleto na iyan, comprehensive at thorough enough to really warrant the start of the normal process of preliminary investigation," she said. The Justice secretary also said she still does not see the need to issue a watch list order against the new individuals implicated in the Senate probe on the alleged 2004 poll fraud. "Kapag nasa PI na, tsaka [maglalagay sa watch list]. I'll get the views of the joint PI committee first," she said. The DOJ-Comelec fact-finding team was formed in August, headed by DOJ Assistant Secretary Zabedin M. Azis as chair. Azis will have Malabon-Navotas City Prosecutor Jorge G. Catalan Jr., Muntinlupa City Prosecutor Edward M. Togonon, and NBI lawyers Cesar Bacani and Dante Jacinto as members. The PI committee, headed by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, will carry out the main poll fraud inquiry. The PI committee members are Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan, Comelec lawyer Michael Villaret, Laguna Provincial Prosecutor George Dy and Pasig City Prosecutor Jacinto Ang. A preliminary probe seeks to determine if there is probable cause that warrants the indictment of the named respondents before the proper courts. — VS, GMA News