MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said that it had furnished the US government with documents amid the money-laundering and bribery charges against former chairman Andres Bautista.
“The US government had coordinated and sought the assistance of the Comelec. In fact, they asked us for some documents, and they even asked us to interview certain people from the commission, and we fully assisted and fully participated,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said in an interview on ANC.
“We gave everything they were asking us because we wanted to be transparent as far as possible, and this is in order for us to seek the truth,” he explained.
Despite the coordination, Garcia said the Comelec remains oblivious to the details of the case itself, including where the US government is basing its testimonies against Bautista and where affidavits against him came from.
“We would like to ask the US government to share information or share documents in the same manner that when they asked us for certain documents we provided,”
“Sana ma-provide din sa’min para malaman namin what is the real reason for the indictment, ‘yung puno’t dulo po para hindi rin in the dark ‘yung Comelec,” he added.
(I hope it can also be provided to us so that we can know the real reason for the indictment, the whole point so that the Comelec is not kept in the dark.)
Bautista had been charged by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with money laundering, conspiracy, and bribery concerning the Comelec’s contract with Smartmatic.
Bautista, in his social media account, denied ever receiving a bribe and added that he was surprised by the charges as he was not contacted before being informed of the complaint.
