Cop in poll fraud submits affidavit before DoJ

TELL THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT . . .Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago Jr. (left) swears on the truthfulness of the affidavit he filed before the Department of Justice Thursday in which he led the break-in at the Batasan Pambansa Complex in 2005 to switch the original election returns in the 2004 polls with fakes. TETCH TORRES/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Police Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago Jr. submitted his affidavit to the Department of Justice (DoJ) detailing his participation in the switching of election returns at the House of Representatives in 2005.

In his affidavit, Santiago said the special operation was hatched sometime in October 2004 when then Special Action Force (SAF) Chief Marcelino Franco informed him to organize a group for the purpose of “undertaking intelligence operations and other special missions.

After the composition of the group, its members went to the task of team building, physical conditioning, equipage and proper motivation.

Then, on Jan. 18, 2005, Santiago met with Police Chief Inspector Ferdinand Ortega at the Batasang Pambansa Complex, together with certain “El Bello,” Franco and former Philipine National Police (PNP) Chief Hermogenes Ebdane, now Zambales Governor at a coffee shop.

Santiago said he made it clear that his group’s participation would be limited and voluntary on the part of its members.

The operations took place twice in January and twice in February 2005.

On the third operation, Santiago said the crew of the van discovered the contents of the boxes that they have been transporting to and from Cainta to Batasang Pambansa.

“I told them to get some more copies of what showed me but they should randomly get it from different boxes so it won’t show that there was pilferage,” Santiago said.

“I immediately kept and secured the ERs [election returns] to avoid it from being pilfered, with the intention of using it as a security leverage and simply allowing my survival instinct,” Santiago said.

Last week, the five other SAF members submitted two sets of affidavits before the DoJ detailing their participation in the break in at the House of Representatives.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said the affidavits would be used by the joint investigating body of the DoJ and the Commission on Elections regarding the 2004 and 2007 poll fraud.