Maguindanao poll exec: 190 ERs not canvassed

The Party-List-Genuine Opposition Task Force Poll Watch on Friday said that it has uncovered damning evidence proving that the Commission on Elections did not canvass genuine election returns in Maguindanao. In a press statement, the group said that Maguindanao Board of Election Inspector, Faizal Kalantungan, has executed an affidavit attesting to the fact that 190 ERs and 38 ballot boxes remain uncanvassed in Pagalungan, Maguindanao. Kalantungan's affidavit is the first legally binding evidence that proves that no canvassing was conducted in several towns in Maguindanao, the group said. "Up to now, the authorized Comelec officer has yet to collect the election returns and the 38 ballot boxes," says Kalantungan in an affidavit signed May 24, 2007. "There are still 190 ERs in the custody of BEIs, including mine, and a total of 38 ballot boxes inside the Pagalungan municipal hall that remain uncanvassed," his affidavit stated. According to Zaynab Ampatuan, head of GO-PL fact-finding team that investigated the fraud in Maguindanao, the 190 uncanvassed ERs contained all the votes in eight (8) of twelve (12) barangays in the said municipality. "It is highly irregular that the Provincial Board of Canvassers already finished canvassing 'votes' in Maguindanao while the ERs remain in the custody of poll officers at the municipal level," says Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo in the statement. "The Maguindanao Certificate of Canvass was already submitted for canvassing to the National Board of Canvassers in PICC. But the genuine ERs reflecting the votes of the electorate were still uncanvassed. This is a clear case of election sabotage, a criminal and election offense" Ocampo stressed. Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano charged that the ERs and COCs canvassed in Sharif Aguak are "fabricated and therefore not reflective of the Maguindanao electorate's will." Reps. Ocampo and Mariano called on the Comelec to immediately declare a failure of elections in Magundanao. GO lawyer Sixto Brillantes and Bayan Muna general counsel Neri Colmenares are set to raise the said issue to National Board of Canvassers today. - GMANews.TV