Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Erwin Garcia said Monday the documents handed over to him by former Caloocan representative Edgar Erice which supposedly contain a list of foreign bank accounts linked to a poll body official are dubious.
In an interview, Garcia said the documents from Erice which purportedly came from the Bahamas have "similar fonts" and appeared to be from a single person.
“Binago lang mga account numbers umano ng mga bangko. Kung talagang galing sa iba’t ibang bangko dapat magkakaiba, dapat may logo pa nga (The account numbers were just changed. If it really came from different banks, these should be different from each other and these should have logos)," he said.
Garcia said he would have these documents verified to determine the appropriate charges to be filed.
He said the claim of the former lawmaker that these were only sent by a source abroad is unbelievable.
"Falsification po malinaw na malinaw (It's clear that this is falsification). Falsification of a public or even a private document. Mas mahaba kulong nyan sa (It carries a longer jail term under the) Revised Penal Code (RPC)," he added.
Under Article 172 of the RPC, falsification by a private individual and the use of falsified documents carry a penalty of up to six years imprisonment and a fine of not more than PHP5,000.
Garcia said he would prove these accounts are non-existent and these do not belong to him.
Meanwhile, the former lawmaker said he received the files from the Bahamas.
Erice said the files show that a Comelec official received USD1 million from South Korea allegedly from Miru, the poll body's service provider for the automation system to be used for the 2025 midterm elections.
“At ito ay merong 14 foreign accounts ng isang Comelec official at sa ilan kasama ang kanyang maybahay as co-depositor. Andun din apat na properties na diumano pag-aari ng Comelec official na yun sa Singapore, Hong Kong, US, at Makati (These also have 14 foreign accounts of a Comelec official, and his wife was also named as a co-depositor. It also showed four properties allegedly owned by the Comelec official in Singapore, Hong Kong, US, and Makati City),” Erice said in a separate interview.
Erice said it is now up to Garcia on what to do with the information showed in these documents.
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