Comelec, iimbestigahan na rin ang umano'y pagtanggap ni dating Chairman Andy Bautista ng suhol mula sa voting machine company na Smartmatic noong 2016 elections
Comelec, iimbestigahan na rin ang umano'y pagtanggap ni dating Chairman Andy Bautista ng suhol mula sa voting machine company na Smartmatic noong 2016 elections
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00:00The Commission on Elections is also investigating the former chairman, Andy Bautista,
00:06who stole money from the voting machine provider, Smartmatic, during the 2016 elections.
00:12This is the story of Louisa Erispe.
00:15Following the announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice that they will formally sue the former COMELEC chair, Andres Bautista,
00:23COMELEC is now conducting its own investigation, in line with the bribery case that the former chairman, Paul Buddy, is facing.
00:31According to COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia, they will not allow only the United States to investigate.
00:38That is why they are now moving their case.
00:40It became our guidance. It became our basis to ask for documents.
00:46Again, we just don't want to be blamed for not moving the COMELEC to such accusations.
00:53Why are we not being investigated? Why are we not being looked at or investigated for documents, documents or evidence?
01:00The Commission is also looking into the transactions that COMELEC and Smartmatic entered as automated election system providers.
01:09This includes the fraud in their bidding, vouchers of their transactions, contracts and more.
01:17They will also try to cover up what the U.S. DOJ is saying, that they did not comply with the P700 million tax that should have been returned to the Philippines under the contract of COMELEC and Smartmatic in 2016.
01:28But they did not comply. Now, it is not sure where it went.
01:33All of this is in our hands. We need to review it well to make it fair.
01:38Our purpose here is to find out who is behind all of this.
01:41Number two, why did the government lose the P700 million, which is just a small amount.
01:49How did this happen? Who is responsible? Is there a basis for us to give such a large amount of money?
01:55If there is no basis and it is illegal, we will have a big problem with this.
02:02COMELEC will also find out if it is possible for other officials and members of the Commission to be held accountable.
02:10It's not just the Commission and Bank. It's not just our members who are responsible for these things.
02:18But of course, those who are in the Commission, we just want to clarify what happened there.
02:23The dates are very important initially. I was lucky to see the initial dates since this weekend.
02:31I saw that there was one day and the documents were processed in just several days.
02:37Meanwhile, if it is an ordinary transaction, it is not processed that fast.
02:41So we can factor in such things.
02:44I promise to the people that we will find out who is behind all of this.
02:48If we need to be held accountable, we will be held accountable.
02:50Currently, the investigation is ongoing and the COMELEC Law Department is leading it.
02:56Andy Bautista and Smartmatic have not yet made a statement on the new action of COMELEC.
03:01But Andy Bautista said that the USDOJ's case against him is possible because of the influence of officials in the Philippines.
03:12While Smartmatic said that there is no allegation that there is a breach of the law and that the whole company is not held accountable.
03:20They are confident that they can ensure the integrity of their investigations.
03:26Luisa Erispe for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.