Friday, June 15, 2007 Editorial: Yet another investigation
AGAIN there is this talk about the Commission on Elections (Comelec) voicing its willingness -- or at least some of them who had enough of a conscience -- to reopen anew the "Hello Garci" investigation if only to clear the name of the agency once and for all.
The suggestion was floated by Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who had just resigned from the task force created by the agency to look into the alleged poll irregularities in Maguindanao province, where Team Unity scored a 12-0 sweep and not one of the Genuine Opposition (GO) candidates manage to get one solitary vote there. How and why it happened one can never know but some say it screams of blatant cheating.
Not so, says election supervisor Lintang Bedol, who claimed that it is possible for senatorial candidates to get zero votes from one province while those who happen to be the least popular gets the lion share of the votes.
Not to put down Sultan Kiram, who had this as one of his fewest consolations in a senatorial race he was fated to lose, according to the countless surveys held in Manila.
But there it was, the suggestion to reopen the investigation into the "Hello Garci" scandal following the debacle that was the Maguindanao province voting as well as the election controversies that rocked Lanao provinces.
And the stink that results has yet to be fanned out by the Arroyo administration, let alone cleaned up by the Comelec.
While the votes that were gathered there may not influence the total outcome of the elections it does show that this government still has to get a grip on what clean, honest, orderly and peaceful elections are all about. And that "Hello Garci" scandal remains an albatross around the government's neck.
Having said that it is also urged that Congress leave the investigation into the "Hello Garci" scandal to the courts. Almost three years had passed since that controversy exploded, three years since the controversial 2004 elections were held, that the courts are needed to do the inquiry to avoid the excess politicking that may result.
We understand that the opposition-dominated Senate is chomping at the bits for another impeachment attempt, which is why a dispassionate investigation into the controversy is slim at best.
Anyway, it's time to put some closure into this controversy if only to cut off the albatross once and for all.
