Abalos: Evidence not enough to convict me

Benjamin Abalos

“As I see it, (that) cannot even convict me.”

This was what former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos said when asked about the purported evidence the electoral body had against him that would prove he was involved in rigging the 2007 elections in North Cotabato and South Cotabato.

The batches of documents that comprised the purported proof and the charge sheet against Abalos were delivered to the Pasay City Regional Trial Court on Wednesday by representatives of the Comelec law department.

They were submitted to bolster the two counts of electoral sabotage the Comelec filed against Abalos on the same day. Named corespondents were former provincial election supervisors Yogie Martirizar and Lilian Suan-Radam, and Captain Peter Reyes of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“I would say that that evidence cannot even, if I were to say, cannot even establish probable cause against me, much more convict me,” Abalos told reporters at one of the business establishments his family owns along Barangka Drive in Mandaluyong City.

Asked if he knew what documents were submitted by the Comelec to the court, Abalos said he did not and that his camp, up to now, was at a loss.

“We did (request for copies of the documents) but we were never furnished them,” he said.

“When you’re charged of (sic) electoral fraud, the basis for that are documents… We were asking for that, so that we could intelligently review the charges. That did not arrive, and yet the case has already been submitted,” he said.

In a motion for judicial determination of probable cause filed also on Wednesday, Abalos asked the court to review the purported evidence the prosecution submitted before it decides on whether or not he should be arrested.

As a result, on Thursday, Abalos escaped arrest. Judge Jesus Mupas of Pasay RTC Branch 112, however, did not spare Abalos’ co-respondents and has ordered their arrest.