THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has officially launched a fact-finding investigation into the pre-shading of official ballots in Basilan ahead of the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) last Monday.
In an interview late Friday, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body's Law Department had begun sending notices to several individuals with knowledge of the pre-shading of ballots assigned to 36 polling precincts in Maluso, Basilan.
“The Law Department has issued the corresponding notices or directives to several individuals, requiring them to provide explanations and responses,” Garcia said.
“This was done to facilitate a genuine and comprehensive investigation and determine how and where this occurred, and who was responsible,” he added.
Garcia clarified that the individuals who received notices were not necessarily being held liable for the incident.
“They are being asked to provide answers, not for them to address liabilities, but simply to determine the extent of their responsibility, their whereabouts at the time, and what they witnessed,” he said.
Garcia, however, said Comelec already has an idea of who may have been behind the pre-shading of the 16,563 official ballots.
“It is very easy to determine who is responsible. Always follow the chain of custody. Those involved in the process are the ones liable. Before the ballots were distributed to the teachers, who had them? Who had possession? You must be held accountable because you held legal possession of the pre-shaded ballots,” he said.
Garcia also said Comelec believes more than one person was involved.
“It is impossible for just one person to have tampered with and shaded all the 16,500 ballots. It would have required a group or a large number of people to do it,” he said.
A total of 16,563 official ballots assigned to 36 polling precincts in Maluso, Basilan, were discovered to have been pre-shaded on the eve of Election Day.
Garcia previously said those responsible for the pre-shading of the official ballots could potentially face electoral sabotage charges. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)
