BIGGEST TASK FOR MELO IS TO WEED OUT AND PROSECUTE POLL OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN FRAUD

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said incoming Commission on
Elections Chairman Jose Melo has a lot of cleaning-up
to at the Comelec, starting with the weeding out and
prosecution of field election supervisors and other
officials involved in fraudulent practices, especially
during the 2004 and 2007 elections.

Pimentel said that the integrity and credibility of
Comelec cannot be fully restored unless these
notoriously undesirable and discredited elections
officials are removed and punished.

“Ironically, these scoundrels in the Comelec, instead
of being booted out and charged with criminal
offenses, were promoted to higher positions, courtesy
of the previous Comelec leadership,” he said.

Pimentel said the choice of retired Supreme Court
Justice Jose Melo is already a fait accompli.

“Let us give him a chance to discharge his
constitutional duties and to implement electoral
reforms,” he said.

Pimentel, however, expressed disappointment that
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has turned a deaf
ear to the long-standing proposal of the opposition
for at least one of its nominees to be named to the
Comelec.

Pimentel said an important task that could serve as an
acid test to Melo’s capability and independence is the
dismantling of the syndicate composed of Comelec
officials and professional fraud experts responsible
for the “dagdag-bawas” operations that tainted the
results of the 2004 Presidential and 2007 Senatorial
Elections.

He said piles of evidence of the nefarious activities
of this fraud syndicate have surfaced in the ongoing
recount of the votes cast in 44 towns in Maguindanao
and other Mindanao provinces in connection with the
electoral protest of Genuine Opposition senatorial
candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III against
administration Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri before the
Senate Electoral Tribunal.

According to Pimentel, many ballot boxes when opened
were empty, some yielded fake ballots, with
handwriting by one or two persons only while other
election documents, like election returns and
certificates of votes, were missing.
-o0o-

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