THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to conduct an investigation on the viral video showing men in police uniform tearing several accomplished ballots that circulated hours after the end of voting hours for the May 9 polls.
In a press conference, acting Comelec Spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said the poll body’s Committee on the Ban of Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP) has put the incident on its agenda.
“The operations group of the Comelec is already there at the command center and they are already digging into this issue. This would be investigated and we would report to you the eventualities,” said Laudiangco.
“This has already been reported to us and it would be part of the agenda of the CBSFP,” he said, adding they will coordinate with the PNP.
“We would be waiting for the official report coming from both the PNP and the Comelec,” said Laudiangco.
Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said the viral video will also be referred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to check if it is authentic or fake news.
“We have to go after these people to prove that we are also serious. Otherwise, it will happen again,” said Garcia.
The viral video showed two men in police uniforms placing a pile of ballots on top of a table inside a room with at least a few of them visibly having shaded ovals. The men proceeded to tear the ballots.
Laudiangco said one of the angles they will look into is the location of the incident, supposedly in Cotabato City.
Members of the PNP were tapped to man several polling precincts in Cotabato City after the original Electoral Boards (EBs) backed out from serving in the May 2022 polls.
