Thursday, November 10, 2005
Comelec drops case vs. treasurer over loss of padlocks
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is dropping the administrative complaint against the municipal treasurer of Tabogon before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for failing to secure the town’s election returns.
Associate Graft Investigator Alejandro Borden said lawyer Edwin Cadungog, the Provincial Comelec Supervisor, went to the anti-graft office yesterday to say that Edna Carla Arbuyes has been sanctioned by another agency over the same incident.
Arbuyes, being the municipal treasurer, is responsible for the safekeeping of the ballot boxes used in the town during the last polls.
But last August, unidentified persons opened the 103 ballot boxes, with the returns inside, that were stacked inside the town’s government hall.
The plastic seals in each of the boxes were also torn, indicating these were unlocked and opened.
Pay P50T
The burglars then brought with them the 300 padlocks used to secure the boxes.
Borden said the Office of the Provincial Treasurer has ordered Arbuyes to pay the government P50,000, the cost of the 300 padlocks.
Borden said the anti-graft office limited the scope of their investigation to the loss of the padlocks because the incident was considered non-election related.
“It’s supposed to be the Comelec who does that, under the rules,” Borden maintained.
In an earlier interview, Cadungog was adamant in getting the Tabogon Election Officer, Felix Sentillas Jr., to file charges against Arbuyes.
Failure
“For me, there is a prima facie case because of her failure to inform the election officer, the PNP and the (political) parties concerned about the transfer of the ballot boxes,” he said.
The boxes were originally stored inside the municipal hall’s Public Employment Service Office building, but without the knowledge of the local election registrar, these were brought inside the treasurer’s office, Cadungog said.
But according to Borden, Cadungog told him yesterday that the filing of the complaint against Arbuyes was merely “for compliance.” (KNR)
(November 10, 2005 issue)
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