SOMETIME in April last year, the city and provincial offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) nationwide each received a Sharp copying machine along with election accountable forms and paraphernalia for use in the May 10 national polls.
Some employees were surprised to receive the equipment, since not one poll official in the field had heard about the purchase. The Comelec main office had turned down equipment requests in the past for lack of funds.
Based on records gathered from the Comelec's shipping committee, a total of 107 copiers were distributed from Batanes to Sulu. NEWSBREAK estimates that the purchase amounted to P6,755,980 at P63,140 per unit. Comelec sources recall that the machines were delivered at the main office sometime in March, with Comelec finance chief Eduardo Mejos saying that these were urgently needed in the provinces and had to be shipped out immediately. Since they were already in the thick of preparations for the elections, the usual reservations that normally accompany such huge acquisitions were relegated to the background.
Recently, questions about the copiers surfaced anew after opposition witness Michaelangelo Zuce testified at the Senate that President Arroyo met with some poll officials at the family residence in La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City in January last year. Zuce said his uncle, Virgilio Garcillano, who had not yet been appointed commissioner at that time, was present, along with Mrs. Lilia Pineda, wife of suspected jueteng lord Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda.
In his sworn affidavit, Zuce said that at the dinner meeting, Arroyo asked the help of Comelec regional and provincial officers in the forthcoming presidential race. For their part, the regional and provincial poll officers asked for "Xerox machines" and vehicles.
Apparently, it was a request that the President did not forget.
When NEWSBREAK asked Comelec executive director Pio Joson and property division chief Amor Balbon about the source of the copiers, the two said they were unsure since these just surfaced at the Comelec. But they said it was Comelec finance services chief Eduardo Mejos who seemed to have facilitated their acquisition.
Curiously, it was Mejos who took charge of the machines' distribution in the city and provincial offices. This wasn't part of his job as finance chief.
The Comelec itself couldn't have purchased the machines since there was no bidding held for their acquisition.
Until now, the property division has yet to receive any document showing that the copiers are Comelec property. This has caused some minor problems, particularly in their repair and maintenance.
Balbon explained that before any purchase and replacement of spare parts could be undertaken for the copiers that have broken down, a memorandum from the Comelec acceptance committee should state that it had received the machines as a donation and that the Comelec was now the owner.
But documents gathered by NEWSBREAK show that the Office of the President was the source of machines, which were given to the Comelec as a donation.
When told about it, Balbon expressed surprise, saying it was the first time that Malacañang had made a donation of any kind to the poll body.
But in the light of the Zuce testimony, some Comelec officials are expressing concern that the copier machines were not merely donations but an attempt by the President to curry favors with election officers. They point out that the President may therefore be liable for vote-buying.
Under the Omnibus Election Code and Comelec Resolution 6420 in connection with the May 10 polls, the giving of donations or gifts in cash or in kind is a prohibited act during the campaign period, from February 10 to May 8, 2004.
The prohibited act constitutes vote-buying, according to one Comelec regional director. The source also said that under the Revised Penal Code, the prohibited act also constitutes bribery "since it was done in consideration of something."
At the very least, a Comelec commissioner said that the act of donation of the copier machines by Malacañang was "irregular" since it came from a sitting president who was seeking reelection. "With the President as a candidate, it can be interpreted that she could be soliciting votes or support from the election officials."
Intentions are hard to prove, but one document could show that Malacañang wasn't just being charitable. Among the documents that Zuce submitted to the Senate was a memorandum submitted by Garcillano to the President in connection with his consultations with regional election directors and provincial election supervisors in Mindanao. In that memo, Garcillano stressed the importance of getting the unqualified support of Comelec personnel in the field. "Let us make them feel that when they look back they have that debt of gratitude and residual loyalties to us," Garcillano said.
He may as well have been referring to satisfying the need of Comelec field people for something so simple as a copying machine.
