Yearender: Comelec loses COCs, chairman
The year 2007 was one of the most turbulent for the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
During the May 14 elections, the municipal certificates of canvass (COCs) and the provincial statement of votes from Maguindanao reportedly disappeared while in the custody of provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol.
In 2007, the Comelec lost not just COCs but also its chairman. Benjamin Abalos was accused by businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, a son of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., of brokering for Chinese firm ZTE Corp. to clinch a $329-million contract for the national broadband network (NBN).
The opposition accused the pro-administration Team Unity (TU) of manipulating the elections in Maguindanao to allow Juan Miguel Zubiri to win the last slot in the senatorial race against Aquilino Pimentel III of the Genuine Opposition (GO).
Zubiri won primarily because of the votes coming from Maguindanao, raising a howl of protest from Pimentel’s camp. They believed that the election in the province was rigged to favor TU candidates.
The GO bagged seven slots while TU got three. Two independent candidates won.
Pimentel had asked the Supreme Court to exclude the Maguindanao votes from the counting, citing massive electoral fraud.
But the Tribunal tossed back the case to the Comelec, which dismissed Pimentel’s petition and proclaimed Zubiri as the 12th winning senator.
The missing election documents from Maguindanao should have been used by the Comelec for the final canvassing of votes, but the poll body had to use duplicates instead, the authenticity of which was doubted by GO.
Bedol snubbed repeated calls of the Comelec to attend canvassing and hearings to shed light on the matter, prompting the poll body to charge him with indirect contempt.
Bedol was meted six months in jail and fined P1,000 but he has not served his sentence. He managed to elude the warrant of arrest issued by the Comelec on Oct. 23.
For Abalos, the fact that seven of the 12 senatorial seats were won by GO candidates disproved accusations of cheating by the opposition.
Sometime in September, STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc wrote in his column that a Comelec official acted as a conduit between the government and
Bondoc revealed that this official had also received cash and lavish gifts in
Many immediately speculated that this official was Abalos, an allegation that he vehemently denied.
Later, Joey de Venecia came out in the open and accused Abalos of brokering for ZTE.
De Venecia alleged that during a meeting at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong, Abalos asked him to withdraw his firm’s bid in exchange for $10 million.
Calls for the resignation of Abalos intensified and Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico filed an impeachment case against the Comelec chairman on grounds of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and bribery.
Abalos was also grilled at the Senate, where Joey de Venecia dramatically demonstrated how he was told to “back off” from the NBN project.
When Abalos felt that his family was already being dragged into the mess, he resigned last Oct. 1, catching Comelec officials and employees and even his critics by surprise. Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra was named acting chairman.
Abalos said he opted to quit to be able to face his accusers in court.
Abalos, along with Borra and Commissioner Florentino Tuason, was scheduled to retire from the seven-man Comelec in February next year.
When Borra and Tuason retire, the Comelec will be left with vacancies for chairman and three commissioners because a post for commissioner has not been filled up since 2002.
Early last month, Malacañang had presented a list of five nominees: lawyer Rene Saguisag, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, former senator Wigberto Tañada, Dean Amado Valdez of the University of the East College of Law, lawyer Howard Calleja of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, Comelec Law Department chief Alioden Dalaig and one Severo Maluenda.
Ironically, Saguisag and Rodriguez have been critical of President Arroyo as they are both friends and lawyers of ousted President Joseph Estrada.
Dalaig, on the other hand, was gunned down by unidentified men in front of Hyatt Hotel in
The release of the list had raked in criticism from civil society groups.
Malacañang jumped the gun on almost everyone when it announced last Nov. 1 the appointment of former judge Moslemen Macarambon to the Comelec. His credentials were virtually unknown, casting doubts on his appointment.
The Palace claimed that Macarambon was recommended by former Supreme Court chief justice and now Ambassador to the United Nations Hilario Davide Jr., but the latter denied this.
Macarambon appealed to his critics to give him a chance to prove his worth, as he vowed to bring to the Comelec his 18 years of experience as a trial judge.
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