Palace hopes for early Borra case resolution

Malacañang is hoping for a speedy resolution to the poll automation anomaly case involving election commissioner Resurreccion Borra and five other Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said the case might cast a shadow over the 2007 mid-term elections if it drags on until next year.

"I think it is in the national interest that this should be immediately resolved, especially with an election coming up," Defensor said. "You cannot have someone in the Comelec who is being accused of some serious allegations at this point in time."

Defensor said with the mid-term elections in May 2007, and the government hard-pressed to find funding for it, the recommendation of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez that several poll officials be impeached and charged with graft "is something that is not needed."

"This is very unfortunate but I guess this is something, these are developments we just have to accept," Defensor said. "We respect the recommendation of the Ombudsman and also whatever actions the Comelec or its officials would take to defend themselves from the recommendation to impeach and charge them."

He assured the public, however, that the developments are unlikely to affect preparations for and the conduct of next year’s elections, explaining there is an existing legal process to follow.

"We have a healthy legal system where institutions can work within the framework even if they (are) quarreling independent institutions," Defensor said.

He said the development would not affect the administration’s resolve to continue its efforts to modernize the country’s electoral system, which Mrs. Arroyo had earlier pledged would be part of her legacy.

"We will continue to look for and make available funds for the modernization of the Comelec," Defensor said.

Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said he is looking for more money in the current national budget to fund preparations for next year’s elections.

His deadline to come up with an initial P400 million — the amount requested by Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos during a meeting last week — is next week.

"I think we have some room in the reenacted 2005 budget for us to raise the amount," Andaya said in a telephone interview. The amount, he noted, is just for preparations and the 2007 elections will ultimately cost anywhere from P4 billion to P5 billion.

He explained that more than P1 billion had been earmarked for the Comelec’s automation and modernization program in the proposed P1.053-trillion national budget for 2006, which has yet to be approved by Congress.

At present, the government is operating under the reenacted 2005 budget. To fund the modernization of the elections, Andaya said, the government may have to ask Congress for a supplemental budget.

It is now up to the House of Representatives, where the impeachment process begins, to take action. President Arroyo’s allies are currently girding themselves for a new impeachment bid by the opposition.

Mrs. Arroyo has been under pressure since last year following allegations that she cheated in the 2004 presidential election.

She admitted having an inappropriate conversation with an unidentified election official — believed to be former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano — before Congress declared the winner but denies manipulating the poll outcome.

The allegations also cast doubts on the Comelec’s credibility.

Mrs. Arroyo successfully fought off an impeachment bid in the House last year but the political opposition revived its attempt to oust her by filing an impeachment complaint everyday beginning last Monday.

The case involving Borra and other election officials derailed government plans to use ballot-counting machines in the 2004 elections and modernize the country’s antiquated electoral system.

Last Friday, the Office of the Ombudsman recommended Borra’s impeachment for alleged anomalies in the awarding of a contract to MegaPacific eSolutions Inc. for the purchase of nearly 200 ballot counting machines in 2003.

The machines were in line with government’s efforts to modernize the country’s antiquated electoral system beginning with the 2004 general elections.

Graft charges were likewise recommended against Borra, who headed the Comelec’s poll modernization program, if he is impeached. Comelec chairman Abalos escaped liability.

Why only Borra?

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. believes officials who approved MegaPacific’s contract — including Abalos — should likewise be held liable.

"All Comelec commissioners involved with the anomalous MegaPacific contract should be prosecuted. It is not fair to single out Borra," said Pimentel, who has been calling for the prosecution of all poll officials involved in the aborted deal.

A Senate inquiry on the anomaly had recommended that the Ombudsman take action on those involved.

Pimentel had earlier said the Ombudsman should be given two more months to complete its investigation. The Supreme Court gave Gutierrez until last Friday to finish the probe.

She had recommended further investigation to determine the extent of the anomaly.

"It might be true that the Ombudsman needs time to finish her investigation of the alleged anomalies in the MegaPacific deal. Perhaps granting her a non-extendable period of two months to do her job would go a long way towards giving the Comelec officials who may be liable their comeuppance," Pimentel said.

"All the commissioners who signed are culpable. Even those who have already retired should be charged before the Sandiganbayan," said Augusto Lagman, president of Info Tech Federation of the Philippines.

He is also in charge of the computer systems of National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), the election watchdog’s arm which has played a critical role in monitoring the country’s elections since the historic 1986 "snap" elections that eventually resulted in the ouster of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"Questions should be raised by the public as to why the Ombudsman came out with this result. The Supreme Court gave the Ombudsman a long time to decide and still the findings are incomplete. We have information that the report was finished as early as September last year (when Simeon Marcelo was still ombudsman). When Merceditas Gutierrez took over, she had enough time to complete it," said Lagman.

One party, the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas, has called for a "purge" of the Comelec.

The Ombudsman had also recommended sanctions on officials of a five-member Comelec committee that awarded the contract to MegaPacific, which was later found by the Supreme Court to be anomalous. Eight MegaPacific officials also face graft charges.

Under the 1989 law that created the government’s chief anti-graft arm, the Ombudsman recommended Borra’s impeachment because it has no disciplinary authority over elective and appointive officials who may be removed only by impeachment. The STAR tried but failed to reach Borra for comment.

Former senator Jovito Salonga, whose Kilosbayan civic organization has been calling for sanctions on Comelec officials, said the Ombudsman could directly file criminal charges without waiting for Borra’s impeachment. Impeachment may come after that.

In 2003, the Comelec purchased nearly 200 ballot-counting machines from MegaPacific at the cost of over P1 billion. But the Supreme Court in January 2004 nullified the Comelec’s purchase contract with MegaPacific, citing irregularities in the contract awarding.

The court ordered the Ombudsman to investigate those involved in the MegaPacific deal for possible criminal liability.

But the ruling inadvertently derailed government plans to modernize the country’s antiquated electoral system, which is riddled with opportunities for poll fraud. Typically, it takes election officials weeks to complete the counting of votes.

The Ombudsman’s findings against Borra and others stemmed from a Supreme Court order on May 3 to Gutierrez, which gave her until yesterday to finally determine and report to the tribunal if Comelec officials and MegaPacific should be held liable for the anomalous purchase of ballot-counting machines. The court sternly warned it would cite Gutierrez for contempt if she failed. She was ordered to take action if the findings warranted it. — With Marvin Sy, James Mananghaya