More than 50 field personnel of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), including five with alleged links to ex-Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of “Hello Garci” fame, will be reassigned before the May 10 polls.
Comelec Chair Jose Melo Tuesday told the Joint Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System the reshuffle was not only overdue but was being done to “remove any suspicion, any familiarity” by the election officers in their current postings.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. raised apprehensions at the hearing about the “Garci Boys” still being “in positions of influence in various parts of the country, holding official duties that would impact on the elections.”
Voice on tape
“I want to have an assurance that this won’t be so,” Pimentel said.
Garcillano’s was said to be the voice caught on tape talking to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004 about a one-million vote margin for her.
Ms Arroyo apologized on national TV for talking to a poll official—a violation of the law—but denied any wrongdoing. Garcillano also denied wrongdoing and the case remains unresolved to this day.
Replying to Pimentel, Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the Comelec created a committee “to reshuffle all this personnel.”
“We’re also concerned, we want it to be a credible election,” Sarmiento said.
Speaking to reporters later, Melo said the new assignments of “over 50” Comelec personnel would be announced next week.
Of that number, he said, “not more than five or so” were closely identified with Garcillano.
A number of the so-called Garci boys—persons who were mentioned on the Garci tapes—had received appointments to important posts in the past several years.
Melo said he had a conversation with one of them, Rey Sumalipao, the Lanao del Sur provincial election supervisor in 2004 who was promoted to Comelec-ARMM regional director in 2007.
“I told him there was no evidence he was a Garci boy but the perception of the people was that he was one. As an administrator, I will have to put you elsewhere,” Melo said he told Sumalipao.
Others who received new assignments were retired Navy Vice Admiral Tirso Danga who was appointed in January 2009 to the National Printing Office which prints election ballots.
Danga was chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines when Ms Arroyo’s phone calls were monitored.
Lawyer Renato Magbutay, Comelec assistant regional director in western Mindanao, was named regional director in northern Mindanao.
No to new probe
Francisco Pobe, Agusan del Sur election officer, was promoted to assistant regional director in Caraga.
Renault Macarambon, vice chair of the Lanao del Sur provincial board of canvassers, was made chief of barangay affairs at the Comelec main office.
Malacañang, meanwhile, Tuesday shot down a proposal made by five presidential candidates to reinvestigate the “Hello Garci” scandal.
Charito Planas, deputy presidential spokesperson, challenged the candidates to go to court if they had any evidence against the President.
“There’s no need for any investigation. If they have evidence, they should file a case against her,” she told reporters in Filipino.
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