Cases of poll fraud welcome De Lima as DOJ chief

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima assumes office today with the initial task of investigating the controversies and irregularities in the May 10 elections.

De Lima received from outgoing secretary Alberto Agra of the Department of Justice (DOJ) a copy of the initial investigation reports on the allegations of former Quezon City representative Mary Ann Susano of tampered compact flash (CF) cards that were used in the mayoralty elections in the recent polls.

De Lima also received from Agra the report on the “Hello, Nico” controversy implicating a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official and a former Cabinet member.

Agra described the case conference over the claims made by Susano as a “stalemate.”

He said the representatives of the former Quezon City lawmaker had refused to surrender the two CF cards she had in her possession.

Susano presented the CF cards during a congressional inquiry into allegations of cheating in the May 10 elections.

Susano, who lost the mayoralty race to Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista in the last elections, said the two memory cards had been reprogrammed to make it appear that she lost the elections.

Susano though failed to prove her allegations that she was cheated.

She was also warned that mere possession of election paraphernalia is illegal under election laws.

“They (Susano’s representatives) only presented to us a certificate from a local Comelec (official) showing that there is no missing CF card in the precinct where her CF cards supposedly came from. But the main office of Comelec already reported that there were some CF cards missing in that same precinct so we have an apparent inconsistency here,” Agra explained.

Agra earlier vowed to finish the investigation with a recommendation as to who should be held liable for the possession of the CF cards.

But due to the inconclusive results of the probe, Agra said he would leave the case for De Lima to resolve.

Agra reiterated that possession of a CF card is prohibited under the poll automation law.

“These election paraphernalia – whether CF cards, indelible ink, and election returns, previously – are accountable documents. Only authorized representatives can have possession of them,” he explained.

Agra said that aside from Susano, the election officer assigned to take custody of the CF card could also be held accountable.

As for the “Hello, Nico” case, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has yet to come up with their initial findings.

The NBI said they are still awaiting the results of the investigation into the source of the conversation that was uploaded on the Internet.   – With Cet Dematera