FPJ counsel urges Comelec commissioners to resign

The lawyer of the late opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. and his widow Susan Roces asked yesterday Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos and the six Comelec commissioners to immediately resign from their posts so they could be charged with electoral fraud.

Sixto Brillantes claimed these poll officials have lost their credibility amid the furor over the alleged wiretapped recording of President Arroyo and then Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano talking about fixing the results of last year’s presidential election.

Brillantes said they plan to file criminal charges against Abalos and the commissioners, but "the only problem we have right now is that it is the Comelec that has jurisdiction over criminal complaints on election offenses."

"We want to include Abalos and the six commissioners of the Comelec. Since they are the ones committing the offense, then (they), led by Garcillano, should resign from the Comelec. Let the new set of officers be appointed to the Comelec so we can file the criminal complaint for election fraud," he said.

Brillantes said they cannot expect an impartial investigation if Abalos and the current set of commissioners will handle it.

"We believe that (Mrs.) Arroyo and Garcillano are not the only ones involved in the election fraud committed in the May 10 elections last year. Garcillano could have only been the point man of the Comelec. There are many involved in the conspiracy at the Comelec level," he said.

Brillantes said the board of canvassers in Congress, "the municipal board of canvassers, those who counted the ballots" are involved in this "conspiracy."

He said he has not conferred with Roces on this matter.

"It would be better if (she) would join me in the filing of the criminal complaint at the Comelec. But under the law, anybody can file the complaint for election fraud. I myself can file it alone," Brillantes said.

He called on Abalos and the commissioners to resign "if only to show" they have delicadeza or a sense of propriety. "How will they investigate themselves if they were the ones included in the criminal complaint?"

‘Namfrel Guilty Of Trending’

Brillantes said the alleged wiretapped recording corroborates the evidence of electoral fraud that they have gathered.

"The Supreme Court issued a 15-0 ruling dismissing the election protest of... Poe and the bid of his (widow) to be his substitute on mere technicalities. But this is a case of grand conspiracy," he said.

Brillantes said he will meet with leaders of the political opposition this week to finalize the contents of the criminal complaint, which will also name Mrs. Arroyo, the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), and the municipal board of canvassers as respondents.

He said Namfrel was guilty of "trending" with its unofficial tally that was ahead of the official count periodically released by Comelec after the May 10 synchronized polls.

"Using the trending of Namfrel, the Comelec declared that (Mrs.) Arroyo is leading against (Poe). This is sequencing and that is part of the conspiracy," Brillantes said.

He explained that he "knows" Abalos is a "good actor" and that Garcillano is a "veteran in election fraud."

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, who claims he was a victim of dagdag-bawas in the 1995 senatorial elections, has accused Garcillano of involvement in such vote-padding and -shaving operations and in the registration of fake voters in Mindanao.

Garcillano, who was Comelec director for Northern Mindanao until he retired two years ago, has denied the accusation. He was appointed Comelec commissioner in February 2004.

Brillantes said he is in no rush to file charges of electoral fraud against Mrs. Arroyo and her "co-conspirators," since he has a five-year prescription period within which he can file a complaint.

Meanwhile, Sen. Edgardo Angara said reports quoting him as saying that it was the opposition’s disunity that caused the defeat of Poe and his running mate Loren Legarda in last year’s polls "is as bogus as the Comelec-tallied and Congress-canvassed electoral results of 2004."

"Fraud on an unprecedented scale robbed (them) of their clear victory in the May 2004 elections," Angara said in a statement.