Comelec vows to prosecute cheaters in 2007 polls

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will go all out to pursue the prosecution of those behind the cheating in the 2007 elections, following the Supreme Court (SC) ruling declaring the joint panel of the poll body and Department of Justice (DOJ) legal.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. explained that the panel did not waver in its task to make poll cheaters pay but the SC ruling would enable the investigation to go full blast.

“We will be more determined now, although we have not stopped prosecuting GMA and chairman Abalos,” Brillantes said, referring to former President Gloria Arroyo and former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, the primary accused in the electoral sabotage case pending before the Pasay City regional trial court.

The case involved cheating in Maguindanao where the senatorial slate of Arroyo’s Team Unity got a 12-0 victory. Others charged before the Pasay court were former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol, former Maguindanao governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., and former Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines operative Capt. Peter Reyes.

Brillantes said the Comelec has been preparing sets of evidence and witnesses led by former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas.

Last Tuesday, the SC affirmed with finality the legality of the Comelec-DOJ panel that was tasked to investigate the poll cheating in the province.

The probe had led to the filing of poll sabotage cases before the Pasay City court in 2011.

The high tribunal ruled that it was already moot and academic to decide on the constitutionality of the panel since the case had already been filed in 2011.