Comelec to charge people making 'false, alarming reports'

Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos on Tuesday warned that those giving "false and alarming" reports will be charged with violation of election laws. "It is an election offense. Let us be cautious (with what we say with the media). Those who give this unverified and unvalidated reports should not be left unpunished," Abalos said. Carlos Medina, co-convenor of the lawyers group Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), earlier exposed alleged poll fraud in Maguindanao where teachers, at gunpoint, were told to fill up ballots with the names of Team Unity senatorial candidates. The administration’s senatorial bets scored a 12-0 sweep, with masive leads over the opposition, in elections in the southern Philippines province. Abalos noted that Medina got the information when a person who identified himself as a teacher called up a radio station, where the lawyer was a guest. "We are not even sure if the person who called is really a teacher," the Comelec chairman said. "It was just a phone conversation. How did you know if he really is member of the Board of Election Inspectors. That is what we are looking at," he added. He said the Task Force Maguindanao will not only focus on the allegations but also on the possibility that there was an intentional effort "to destroy the essence of efforts to have a clean election." -GMANews.TV