Sen. Vicente Sotto III, Poe’s spokesman, said that before Manapat went on leave of absence, he had taken out from the National Archives several computer files allegedly containing forged birth and marriage certificates of Poe Sr., and a supposed bigamy complaint of a certain Paulita Gomez.
"The removal of the CPU (central processing unit) was done without the consent of the National Archives property office," Sotto said. "Director Manapat, who took it out himself, is therefore liable for infidelity and even theft, among other charges."
At Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Manapat will remain on leave until he has cleared himself of charges that he forged documents related to Poe’s citizenship and other allegations of irregularities against him.
Bunye said President Arroyo has named Marietta Chou as officer-in-charge of the National Archives in the absence of Manapat.
"If somebody goes on leave, somebody has to take care of the affairs of the office, and that was done," he said.
"An OIC was designated to make sure the office continues to perform according to its mandated functions, and that the records are adequately safeguarded. I say an OIC was appointed. You can interpret it in any which way, but the important thing is an OIC was appointed."
Sotto said Manapat probably wanted to erase the files which contain copies of the documents he had allegedly ordered forged.
"Manapat’s pulling out of the CPU of the computer in his office is crucial to the ongoing investigations into the involvement of Manapat in the forging of documents presented by lawyer Victorino Fornier, as evidence against Poe in seeking his disqualification at the Commission on Elections," he said.
"Removing them compromises the investigation, and can even be considered as an attempt to tamper with evidence."
Sotto said Manapat did not realize that the files in the CPU, which he had taken, were also stored in other computers as they were saved in a shared folder.
A shared folder can be opened through any computer connected in a network to other workstations, he added.
Manapat admitted Thursday night in the television program "Dong Puno Live!" on ABS-CBN that before he went on leave he removed office files stored in a computer allegedly containing fabricated data used in the disqualification case against Poe.
Manapat said he pulled out the files from his office computer Thursday morning to "work on pending tasks like the allowances of employees."
However, Manapat said he had asked the permission of Chou, whom Mrs. Arroyo had named National Archives OIC, before he brought out the computer files.
"Ipinaalam ko kaninang umaga iyon kay Marietta Chou nung nag-leave ako," he said. "Sabi ko tra-trabahuhin ko iyong mga ibang mga allowances habang naka-leave ako."
Manapat made the admission after one of his accusers, archives employee Vicelyn Tarin, questioned his motive in pulling out the computer hardware, which she said contains the alleged fabricated birth and marriage certificates of Poe Sr.
"Sinabi ninyo wala kayong tinatago pero nasaan na po iyong CPU ng computer ninyo?" Tarin asked Manapat in a phone-patch interview from an undisclosed safehouse. "Doon naka-save lahat ng files na ipinagawa ninyo sa amin."
Tarin and two other National Archives employees — Remmel Talabis and Emman Llamera — said they are ready to face Manapat in court, and that they are prepared to disprove Manapat’s accusation that they lied under oath during a Senate hearing in claiming that he ordered them to forge documents.
"Tinatanggap naming ang pagsasampa ninyo ng kaso," Tarin told Manapat.
During Wednesday’s Senate hearing, the three testified that Manapat ordered them to forge documents related to the disqualification case against Poe for not being a natural-born Filipino.
Tarin, Talabis and Llamera told the Senate committee headed by Sen. Edgardo Angara that Manapat ordered them to scan pre-World War II birth certificates and marriage contracts and to change pertinent data with the use of computers to make it appear that Poe Sr. was married to Gomez.
Among the documents that were supposedly forged included Poe’s birth certificate, his father’s marriage contract, and a sworn statement of Gomez alleging a bigamous marriage.
However, Manapat said he merely instructed Tarin, Talabis and Llamera to "enhance the printouts of the microfilm copies" being used as evidence in the petition filed by lawyer Victorino Fornier before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prove that Poe’s father was a Spanish citizen and that his mother, Bessie Kelley, was an American.
In the same television program, Alfredo Lim, a senatorial candidate in Poe’s ticket, accused Manapat of abusing his authority for ordering a pull out of the controversial computer files.
"Director Manapat said he is on leave," he said. "If he is on leave, he has nothing to do on official business and he has no authority to use government property. That is abuse of authority."
Manapat went on official leave of absence a day after he was denounced at a Senate hearing for allegedly ordering
Tarin, Talabis and Llamera to come up with fabricated birth and marriage certificates of Poe’s father.
Lim said the aim of the petition to disqualify Poe was "to create doubt in the minds of the electorate" so that there is a greater chance for the people not to vote for Poe on May 10.
His presidential candidacy suffered in 1998 when the "same personalities" tried to disqualify him from the race for not being a natural-born Filipino, Lim added.
Manapat has maintained innocence of the charges and lamented that he was not given the opportunity to defend himself before the Senate investigation into the alleged fabricated documents.
Manapat said he went on leave of absence so he would not be accused of using his position when he filed perjury charges against Tarin, Talabis and Llamera before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office.
The Comelec threw out yesterday the disqualification complaint against FPJ for lack of merit. — With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Ann Corvera