Result of Comelec probe on barangay SK polls out soon

MANILA, Philippines - Those who caused delays in the conduct of the October 2010 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls are not yet off the hook, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the agency will release before Christmas the results of the investigation on the interruption of the synchronized elections.

“Investigation has been going on. Maybe before Christmas (we can come up with the results),” he said.

Brillantes said the report will contain the names of those who will be charged administratively and criminally for causing the delay.

Late delivery of ballot and election returns caused the delay of the conduct of elections in several polling centers nationwide.

Many election documents were left behind by the shipping companies tapped by the poll body because of packaging delays at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.

Comelec initiated an investigation on reports that some Comelec personnel had sabotaged the elections by messing up the labeling of supplies according to their destination.

Because of this, the materials were not included in the shipments made by forwarders.

This resulted in the personnel themselves undertaking the delivery, which was funded with additional cash advances of as much as P50,000 per person sent to deliver the materials. The allowance was spent for food, allowance per day, hotel accommodation, and vehicle rentals that they made on their own but were subjected to liquidation later.  

The Comelec had utilized “deputized drivers” from government agencies such as the Department of Budget and Management, Government Service Insurance System, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Public Works and Highways and Land Bank of the Philippines in delivering the paraphernalia.

They brought the ballots and election returns to Sorsogon, Misamis Oriental, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Sultan Kudarat, Agusan del Sur, Quezon-Gumaca, Compostela Valley, Marinduque, Kalinga, Quezon, Bohol, Pangasinan, Negros Occidental, Camarines Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Mountain Province, Abra, Quirino, Cagayan Valley, Nueva VIzcaya, Apayao, Benguet, Isabela and Laguna.