Comelec collected copies for the wall

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc, sitting as National Board of Canvassers, should canvass authentic election returns not "copies for the wall," Genuine Opposition bet Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said Thursday.

"Sila mismo mayroong resolution at sinabi nila doon 'pag wala ang kopya o kaduda-duda ang ibinigay na dokumento sa COMELEC in the official way, ang puwede nilang balikan are the election returns ([The COMELEC en banc has a resolution where it said if there are no copies [of the provincial certificate of canvass (COC)] and the document it received is dubious in an official way, COMELEC can review the election returns)," Pimentel told ABS-CBN's Magandang Umaga Pilipinas.

He added: "What happened is they collected alleged municipal COCs, but it turned out the documents are copies for the wall."

Pimentel said this is one of the issues that he will raise in a petition that he will file with the Supreme Court.

He said he will ask the high court to determine if COMELEC is violating elections laws.

A COMELEC fact-finding commission led by Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer and Rene Sarmiento flew to General Santos City and collected election documents from 21 municipal election officers.

COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez said only the election officer from South Upi town wasn't able to attend the hearing.

In an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday, Jimenez said the documents submitted by the 21 municipal election officers are clean.

In an article published on The Philippine Star, Jimenez was quoted as referring to the documents as election returns. "On first impression, it looks authentic. But we still have to refer such findings to COMELEC en banc which will decide (whether) we can canvass the election returns or not."

However, an ABS-CBN News Channel report said majority of the documents submitted by the election officers to the fact-finding commission were "Copy No. 2," which are raw tally sheets posted in the canvassing area.

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