Demetriou tags Guia in deal

One of the mistresses of deposed President Joseph Estrada participated in the alleged anomalous transaction involving the planned purchase of equipment for the modernization of elections, the former chief of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

Former Comelec Chairwoman Harriet Demetriou vowed to press criminal charges against Guia Gomez as well as former colleagues in the poll body in connection with the winning bid of Photokina Marketing Corp. to provide poll machinery.

"I’ll be meeting with Justice Secretary Hernando Perez this week and will turn over all the evidence to his office," Demetriou told The STAR Saturday night.

Demetriou, who retired last weekend, also said Estrada’s friend Mark Jimenez would corroborate her testimony.

In an exclusive interview a day after bowing out of public service, Demetriou said she has sufficient evidence to warrant the conviction of Gomez and top Comelec officials linked to the planned purchase of Voters Registration and Identification System (VRIS) machines.

The government’s plan to buy VRIS machines is in line with the Comelec’s modernization and computerization program.

Although Demetriou did not categorically mention the names of Comelec officials involved in the scam, she was apparently referring to Commissioners Luzviminda Tancangco, Rufino Javier, Mehol Sadain and Ralph Lantion.

They are the four remaining commissioners in the poll body, after the retirement of Demetriou and Commissioners Teresita Dy Liaco Flores and Julio Desamito last Feb. 2.

Demetriou related that during the last two weeks of her term as chairman, the four had repeatedly failed to attend en banc meetings to resolve pending cases, including the purchase of VRIS machines.

She also said the four commissioners usually voted against her decisions on important issues.

It was not immediately known if there are other Comelec officials who will be included in the criminal information.

The former regional trial court judge, who once served as legal adviser of Estrada, said she is willing to testify before any administrative or judicial forum.

"The technical, legal and financial issues which I raised in my memoranda are issues serious enough to call for an investigation," said Demetriou, who gained prominence when she convicted former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez for the rape-slaying of UP-Los Baños coed Aileen Sarmenta and the murder of her friend Allan Gomez in June 1993.

Sanchez is serving life imprisonment along with his seven henchmen at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

MJ too

While stating that her evidence would be enough to convict all those involved in the anomaly, Demetriou believes that Jimenez, an estranged friend and crony of Estrada, can help them.

If Jimenez would give testimony on what he knows about the irregularities on the issue, she said, then he may corroborate the evidence to be presented by the former Comelec chairman to the justice department.

Jimenez, who brokered for Estrada in several BW Resources transactions, had come out and vowed to testify against the ousted president.

Demetriou, a former Sandiganbayan associate justice, recalled an interview Jimenez once gave wherein he mentioned alleged anomalies in the computerization and modernization of the Comelec. "Ito ’yun (This is it)," she said.

She however said that only Gomez, and not Jimenez, is a party to Photokina.

Internal rift

In another development, Demetriou also admitted an internal rift between her and commissioners Tancangco, Javier, Sadain and Lantion.

She revealed several attempts by the four commissioners to wrest control of the Comelec during the past weeks.

"They want to dilute the power of the chairman’s office and play the numbers game," she said.

She said that since there are normally only seven commissioners including the chairman, the four could easily get a majority vote on decisions made by the Comelec en banc.

As of Saturday night, there are only four commissioners left at the Comelec following the retirement of Demetriou, Flores and Desamito, who were ordered by the Supreme Court to step down on Feb. 2, 2001 without further term extensions.

Demetriou said they plan, together with several employees of the Comelec, to rally in front of their building in Intramuros to condemn the reported moves of the clique of four to wrest control of the commission.

The latest unrest in the Comelec comes a week before the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy next Monday for the congressional and local elections in May.