Cops in alleged poll document switching report back to DILG

MANILA, Philippines—Poll fraud whistle-blower Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago and his team reported to Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo Friday afternoon and indicated their intention to remain with the Philippine National Police.

“They requested for a reassignment [in the] meantime that they will be attending the Department of Justice hearings,” he said of Santiago and four members of his team.

Santiago and his boys will be assigned temporarily to the National Police Commission-Secretary of the Interior and Local Government office at Camp Crame, the PNP headquarters in Quezon City, Robredo said.

Shortly before they reported to Robredo, the interior secretary said Santiago could ask for reassignment if he wished to but had only until Monday to report back to work or be declared absent without official leave or AWOL.

“He is still part of the organization and he has to comply with the rules and regulations of the organization,” he said of Santiago, whose last assignment was at the PNP directorate  for operations following his relief as Zambales provincial director in July.

“If it’s necessary that we give him new assignment so he can be secured, we will give him a new assignment but he has to report first,” Robredo said.

He added that he understood that Santiago’s dismissal from his previous post was “very likely” upon the request of Zambales Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., a former PNP director general whom Santiago implicated in the 2004 poll fraud.

“What we want to convey to him is that he has a duty to obey the organization. But in doing that, we are also concerned for his safety and we are after the truth as well,” Robredo said.

He said Santiago could request a new assignment “wherein he is rather comfortable performing the duties of that assignment.”

Santiago and his team recently surfaced to reveal they stole original election returns in 2005 at the House of Representatives and switched them with fake ones to ensure that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo would win in what appeared then to be a possible recount in light of an election protest filed by her closest rival,  the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.

Santiago said he and his boys had acted on the orders of Ebdane coursed through his subordinates.

Robredo said he was not aware if Santiago had been admitted under the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program but “in the meantime… he would still be part of the service and it is necessary that he comply with our rules.”

The PNP earlier warned that Santiago could be dropped from the rolls if he failed to explain his absence within 30 days of being declared AWOL.