Abalos still searching for ‘unknown enemy’

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos vowed yesterday to fight the "unseen" enemy that he claimed has dragged the poll body into the center of the controversy over the failed P1.2-billion election automation project.

At the same time, Abalos admitted he was still searching for answers as to why and who was behind allegations of irregularities in the Comelec’s program to modernize the elections.

"I never knew what hit me," he told reporters during the weekly Kapihan Sa Sulo Hotel forum in Quezon City.

Abalos said he could not imagine why the commission was accused of irregularities when all its actions in the poll modernization program was in accordance with the law.

"Why put the blame on us? We have not committed any irregularities in the contract," he stressed.

Abalos was reacting to the recent recommendation of the Office of the Ombudsman to impeach Commissioner Resurreccion Borra and five other officials.

"There was no trial in the Supreme Court so it’s unfair to drag the poll body," he lamented.

Abalos said he is determined to fight back the "phantom" that is trying to destroy the image of the Comelec by providing all necessary legal and moral support for Borra and other officials implicated in the scandal.

In its findings released Friday, the Ombudsman also recommended the filing of graft charges against Borra, who lamented that he was "singled out" in the Ombudsman’s recommendation since his fellow commissioners also had the same role in the awarding of the purportedly anomalous contract to a private consortium.

The Comelec said it would file a motion for reconsideration before the Office of the Ombudsman.

As "father of the poll body," Abalos said he is duty-bound to defend his men.

The Comelec chairman guaranteed that under his watch he would never allow any cheating.

As to the "Hello, Garci" controversy that involved President Arroyo in election fraud during the May 2004 polls, Abalos said it could be part of an orchestrated effort to smear the reputation of the agency.

Despite the spate of controversies hounding the Comelec, he said it would not be distracted from protecting the sanctity of the ballots.

Among the political exercises that will be tackled by the poll body is the submission of the petition by the pro-Charter change Sigaw ng Bayan movement for a shift in the presidential form of government to a parliamentary system.

Abalos, however, refused to comment on this, as this may lead critics to call for him to inhibit himself from deliberations on the petition.