Comelec employees back Garcia amid bribery allegations

FILE PHOTO: Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia is facing bribery allegations. But the Comelec Employees Union said they share Garcia’s view that the accusation that the Comelec chief received bribes from an unnamed South Korean firm “is a well-oiled demolition job.” | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of COMELEC

MANILA, Philippines — Employees of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) called bribery allegations against poll body officials “an attack on the institution and a direct affront to the credibility of the elections.”

The Comelec Employees Union (Comelec-EU) said they share Chairman George Garcia’s view that the accusation that the Comelec chief received bribes from an unnamed South Korean firm “is a well-oiled demolition job.”

“We agree with Chairman Garcia that this is a well-oiled demolition job that is clearly meant to erode the public’s trust in the automated election system,” Comelec-EU said in a statement Tuesday.

READ: Garcia to NBI: Probe bribery raps, ‘it’s a demolition job vs Comelec’

“This is an attack on the institution and a direct affront to the credibility of the elections that we have worked so hard to uphold and preserve,” it added.

On July 9, Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta said around P1 billion was allegedly transferred to 49 offshore bank accounts that can be traced to an unnamed poll body official.

Garcia eventually said he was the one being alluded to by Marcoleta but has denied the claims. He even asked the National Bureau of Investigation and Anti-Money Laundering Council to look into the issue.

Garcia likewise added that he is mulling filing criminal cases against people who spread lies against him.