Ex-military officials next to face poll sabotage raps

MANILA — Former military officials allegedly involved in vote rigging of the 2004 presidential polls are likely to be the next in line to face electoral sabotage charges, according to Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes.

Brillantes said the joint Comelec-Department of Justice panel looking into the alleged 2007 senatorial fraud is now shifting the focus of its probe to anomalies of the 2004 polls.
“Hindi pa kami tapos… We’re still in the process of shifting our concentration on 2004. We’re now going to second phase which is 2004 since the major personalities in 2007 ay andiyan na, naka-file na,” Brillantes said.
Brillantes said the joint panel will rely on the Mayuga report, Senate testimonies of witnesses and several other reports on the military’s intervention on the preparation of 2004 election documents.
“Marami siguro ito [ang ma-file-an ng charges] based on the documents we already gathered,” Brillantes added.
The Mayuga report, named after the leader of the panel, then Navy Flag Officer Mateo Mayuga, contains the results of the fact-finding board’s probe into the alleged military involvement in the 2004 elections.
The fact-finding board was created in 2005 after the “Hello Garci” audio recordings surfaced.
The report’s findings said some Armed Forces personnel performed functions beyond their mandate such as their utilization as board of election inspectors, canvassing of votes inside camps, and movement
of personnel during the election period without Comelec approval.
Brillantes said he hopes to finish the probe in one year.
“I think we should be really moving fast on this … Ayaw na natin maabala dito kasi we’re preparing for the May 2013 elections,” he said.
Recently, the Comelec filed electoral sabotage cases against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for her alleged involvement in vote rigging in Maguindanao.
It also filed charges against former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. for his alleged part in the electoral sabotage in North and South Cotabato.