Comelec to probe 'forged' document in Camarines Norte governor case

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered an investigation into the alleged forging and substitution of election documents within the poll body’s premises.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento issued the directive the other day during a hearing of the electoral case against incumbent Camarines Norte Gov. Jesus Typoco.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Typoco’s legal counsel, said the statement of votes by precinct (SOVP) from where the poll body’s first division based its decision had been “manipulated.”

Typoco won by 2,700 votes over his closest rival, Edgardo Tallado, in the May 2007 gubernatorial elections, but the latter filed a case before the Comelec, alleging that he was cheated in the municipality of Labo.

After examining the SOVP from Labo, the Comelec’s first division ruled on April 30 last year that Tallado actually won the gubernatorial race against Typoco by 65 votes.

Macalintal, however, said the decision of the Comelec’s first division was based on a “falsified and substituted” SOVP.

In Monday’s hearing, Macalintal presented the genuine SOVP of Labo, noting the difference from the falsified one that the first division considered for its previous decision.

He said the margins of the genuine SOVP were indented unlike the falsified one that also contained the masthead for national elections.

Macalintal asked why it took Tallado’s camp three months to question Typoco’s victory when an electoral protest could have been filed just days after the proclamation.

He said a period of three months is more than sufficient time to fabricate and substitute the genuine SOVP.

“The culprits obviously committed a mistake because they used the masthead of national elections and this document proves conspiracy,” he said.

He called on the Comelec to identify the culprits behind the irregularity. “If no action is taken then we can forget having honest 2010 elections,” he said.

Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said Macalintal raised a serious accusation that needs to be investigated to protect the integrity of the poll body.

Considering Ferrer’s suggestion, Sarmiento, the poll body’s acting presiding chairman, ordered an investigation and directed both parties to submit their respective memoranda in five days.