Comelec to probe Tarlac ‘poll fraud’

TARLAC CITY — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila will convene today to look into allegations that the recent elections here were tainted with massive cheating.

This, as criminal charges are being readied against several ranking government officials here suspected of having conspired in the poll fraud.

"I hope the Comelec won’t dilly-dally just like in past cases," said Mayor Gelacio Manalang, a losing gubernatorial bet of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Third Force (Laban-Third Force), a local opposition faction.

"Majority of our constituents here are appealing to the Comelec to resolve this case before the elected ‘cheats’ take their oaths of office (on June 30) and once again deny our people the fair and honest election that they deserve," he added.

Manalang said Vice Gov. Herminio Aquino, losing gubernatorial bet of the administration’s People Power Coalition-Lakas-NUCD (PPC-Lakas), will join him in filing criminal charges against Comelec personnel, teachers and police officers suspected of having connived in the alleged "systematic, widespread election fraud."

Both Manalang and Aquino, whose political groups have forged a "tactical alliance" to prove the alleged poll fraud, have accused re-elected Gov. Jose Yap Sr. and his Sama-Sama sa Tarlac (SST) party of resorting to cheating, vote-buying and terrorism to win the May 14 elections.

SST is allied with former Marcos crony Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. and his political party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Manalang said they have additional evidence to show that teachers in the entire province conspired in the cheating.

"We have thousands of voters who have filed affidavits stating that, after they cast their ballots last May 14, they were not made to sign the voters’ list as proof that they had voted," Manalang said.

"This cheating tactic could not have been done without the knowledge of Comelec officials and teachers who served as members of the boards of election inspectors," he added.

He said that once the PPC and Laban-Third Force, with the help of former Tarlac Rep. Jose "Peping" Cojuangco Jr., have consolidated all their evidence of alleged poll fraud, "we will file criminal charges against those whom we believe took part in this grand conspiracy."