Manila, Philippines, May 20, 2010 / 01:58 am
A retired Catholic archbishop in the Philippines has said he has witnesses proving that results of the country’s May 10 national elections were manipulated in some regions. The elections mark the first time an electronic voting system has been used in the country.
Archbishop Oscar Cruz, former head of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, said a former member of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) told him that election fraud plotters were trying to rig the country’s first automated polls. The official gave him a list of areas where alleged fraud was planned.
“And it’s true … it really happened here and there,” he claimed, according to CBCP News.
The archbishop said he has another witness who knows the “operators and consolidators” of the poll fraud. He added that it was beside the point who gained or who lost because of the fraud. Rather, he wanted the issue to become public to correct the mistake.