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Thursday, April 06, 2006
DILG, Comelec pointing fingers?
By Jay Dooma Balnig
DESPITE the repeated denials of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for having a hand in the Cha-cha signature drive through the People's Initiative, the Commission on Election (Comelec) however says, "the DILG is behind it."
This was the confirmation of several Comelec employees from various city and provincial offices in Western Visayas recently regarding the alleged involvement of DILG during their signature drive campaign last March 25 during the synchronized conduct of barangay assembly.
Based on the revelation of several Comelec employees who requested that their names be withheld, said since March 25 to the present, the signature campaign still continues to invade various barangays in Western Visayas.
They learned about the said drive from several DILG officers themselves who visited their Comelec field offices asking for the authentic names of registered voters in every barangay for authentication.
There were reports that several village heads are now going house to house to gather signatures for the said purpose.
The Comelec people are now questioning the validity of the said signatures as how the DILG and village heads could check the authenticity of voters records in barangays because they failed to secure the names of voters in every precinct and barangay prior to the conduct of the signature drive.
They added that there is a possibility that several signatories in the said form are not voters from respective barangay or there is a possibility of duplication of signature in two or more barangays with only one voter's name.
But one of the requirements in releasing voters list from Comelec records is to have the interested party submit their letter request duly stating the purpose and reasons for the said request.
The said DILG employee involved however refused to comply with the said requirements.
It was also reported that the requesting party from DILG refused to sign the acknowledgement on the said request.
Because of the said incident, the Comelec employees surmised that the DILG people are really behind the said signature drive.
Meanwhile, lawyer Dennis Ausan, regional director of the Comelec, denied that the DILG approached him to ask for voters' list. "Our office does not issue that," he said.
He said that DILG Regional Director Evelyn Trompeta and others visited him to ask if he is aware that there is an impending People's Initiative for March 25. "As far as the commission is concerned, I said no."
(April 6, 2006 issue)
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