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Tag: Fedinand Rafanan

Comelec chief accused of unethical behavior

I did the following article for VERA Files. It’s also in the Manila Times, TV5’s Interaksyon, and Yahoo.

The displaced director of the Commission on Elections’ Law Department has accused Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. of unethical behavior for allegedly requesting him to help absolve two Comelec officials ordered suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for approving the P690 million contract to purchase ballot secrecy folders for the 2010 elections.

Lawyer Ferdinand Rafanan, who served as head of the Comelec Law Department for three years until he was relieved on Aug. 15, said Brillantes had asked him pointblank to talk to the Ombudsman’s spokesman on how to clear Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members Maria Lea Alarkon and Allen Abaya of charges of “simple neglect of duty, simple misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.”

The irony is, it was Rafanan who had investigated the transaction and concluded an overprice.