6 election officials file complaint vs KNP

Six election officials from Maguindanao have filed a complaint against alleged opposition "point men" who tried to recruit them to bear witness to alleged widespread cheating by the Arroyo administration in the May 10 elections.

In handwritten letters sent to Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos last week, the election inspectors from the Maguindanao towns of Barira, Sharif Aguak, Datu Omar Sinsuat, Parang, South Upi, and an unnamed municipality claimed they were offered money "to change our minds."

The complaint by the election officers has bolstered reports that the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) is out to produce "fake witnesses" to lend credibility to their claim that the government had committed systematic and massive electoral fraud.

The election inspectors were identified as Kajan Usi of Parang, Haid Mamalinta of South Upi, Rauden Mangelen of Datu Omar Sinsuat, Estelita Orbase of Sharif Aguak, Omar Marandang of Barira and Tamano Ololanen.

All of them said they were offered money to sign a prepared statement saying the elections held in their areas of jurisdiction last May 10 had been full of fraud and irregularities perpetrated by the government. They were asked to amend their earlier reports to the Comelec’s legal division that the elections held in their areas were generally peaceful and orderly.

Ololanen said that last June 10, a man who identified himself as a contact from KNP, approached him and offered him money. "I refused and told the man that I would stand by my previous report to the Comelec legal department," he said.

Orbase said she was approached last June 15 in the vicinity of the Comelec headquarters by a man who identified himself as a contact of the KNP.

"The said person offered me a round-trip plane ticket and free hotel accommodation if I will sign an affidavit reversing my earlier declaration to the Comelec legal department. I refused the offer," she said in her letter dated June 16.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), on the other hand, clarified that the charges of illegal detention and grave coercion against KNP lead lawyers Harriet Demetriou and Rufus Rodriguez, which triggered their withdrawal from the congressional canvass Friday night, will be evaluated to determine its merit.

Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez said the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors will have to find out if a preliminary investigation of the case could be conducted or have the complaint dismissed outright.

Gutierrez added that the respondents will be given the right to answer or file their counter-affidavits as part of the "usual process" followed by the DOJ. — With Aurea Calica, Jaime Laude