Senate to start San Mateo raid probe today

The Senate will today start its investigation into the controversial seizure of thousands of election returns from the rented house of a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) handwriting expert in San Mateo, Rizal last month.

Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., chairman of the committee on public order and illegal drugs, presented a list of resource persons to be invited which includes Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) chief Brig. Gen. Marlu Quevedo and AFP deputy chief of staff for intelligence Commodore Tirso Danga.

Also invited was Chief Superintendent Ricardo Dapat, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief.

The investigation was prompted by a resolution filed by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. who claimed the raid was illegal since the lawmen searched the place without a warrant.

A joint team from the ISAFP and the CIDG raided the rented house of Segundo Tabayoyong last Aug. 17.

Lawmen seized some 30,000 election returns along with firearms after Tabayoyong’s landlady sought police assistance.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the opposition had hired Tabayoyong to analyze the election returns, which they claimed formed part of the evidence to be presented before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) on the petition filed by former senator Loren Legarda.

Legarda, who lost to Vice President Noli de Castro, claimed the election returns were used by the administration to cheat in last year’s elections.

Apart from the lack of a search warrant, Pimentel pointed out the alleged complaint by Tabayoyong’s landlady, Carmela Cabuhat, should be treated as a simple matter without necessarily involving the ISAFP and the CIDG.

The investigation was supposed to be conducted last Wednesday but was called off because Villar was reportedly sick with the flu after returning from an official trip to China.

Pimentel also called for an inquiry into the alleged tampering of election returns by administration election operators even after the canvassing of votes in the 2004 elections. - Marvin Sy