in a statement sent to media late Tuesday night, Lagman raised the matter of the intelligence funds the poll executive supposedly get—amounting to P1.25M in 2011

“An area where I definitely did not accomplish anything was “intelligence” work. I didn’t even know that COMELEC Commissioners had that function. Sometime in 2011, I received a check payable to me for P1 million, followed a few months later by another P250,000, as “intelligence” fund, or “I.F.”, as they referred to it. Presumably, all Commissioners received an equal amount, with the Chairman, as mentioned by one of the Commissioners, receiving double that. “

Lagman said he returned the money after holding onto it for a few months—and only after her felt that he was being made to sign a false liquidation. “ Thinking that there might be need for the fund in the future, I deposited it in my bank account. In early 2012, somebody from Finance asked me to sign a document (just one sheet) that would liquidate the fund. The document basically said that I spent the amount on a variety of activities, none of which I actually did. I therefore refused to sign the document and said that I would just return the money, still untouched.”

Lagman revealed the questionable circumstances behind the money. “ The Director for Finance came to see me and explained that all I needed to do was sign the document and the fund would automatically be liquidated. No receipts needed to be presented. After several minutes of discussion, I said that I chose to return the money – and I promptly wrote out a check – and asked him to issue me an official receipt for it. Which he did.”

Lagman said after he returned the money, the poll chief asked why he returned the money. “” I said I didn’t know what to do with it and besides the money was just sleeping in the bank. I also said I had no intention of making anything big out of it.

So admittedly, this (“intelligence” work) is the only area where, I truly did not do a single thing. An election lawyer I met later told me that the buzz inside the COMELEC was that I was the only Commissioner who returned unspent money. “

Lagman stressed that he also returned other moneys to the poll body. “ Aside from the I.F. that I returned, I also returned unspent representation allowance during official trips abroad (US$1,800 every trip, no matter how short the trip was). This was on top of the other travel expenses like plane fare, lodging, and per diems. Of the two trips I made, I only spent US$70.25 of the representation allowance when I treated to dinner some people from a foundation that has been sponsoring training programs for COMELEC staff. I returned the rest. The Disbursing Officer didn’t know how to handle the return of funds, so much so, that I had to ask somebody from Finance to receive the money and issue me receipts.”

Lagman expounded on the money given to each of the poll commissioners. “Commissioners are also entitled to a monthly Revolving Fund of P50,000 a month for office expenses. Had I used them all up by presenting receipts, I could have drawn a total of P600,000 for the year that I was with the Commission (my office was given a few weeks to wind down our operations and get the necessary clearances). My office only spent P182,003.77 of that amount, most of which was to cover expenses during Pillar meetings.”

the poll chief however feels that Lagman took things the wrong way. Brillantes clarified that Lagman was being shown how a liquidation should be done. Brillantes maintained the comelec does have an intelligence fund and they cannot be compelled to disclose it.

“ Ako may intelligence funds. Sinasabi ko, sa akin nakapangalan lahat ng intelligence funds, binibigyan ko lang sila. This is approved by the Office of the President  Di ko sasabihin kung saan ko ginagamit. But I will confirm that he (Lagman) had, I gave him and then he returned it. “

in a phone conversation with ABS-CBN, Brillantes explained Lagman ”was merely being given an idea how to liquidate. A guide. Tumanggap ka ng pera, hindi ka nag-liquidate. Tinuturuan sya. Just like the other commissioners.”

the poll chief feels Lagman is just being holier than thou.

“ Not true. How would he know? It’s not true he’s the only one who returned it. Pinalalabas nya yata sya lang mabait dito but

how would he know he’s the only one who returned it? Naghahanap sya ng gulo. We’re not the first (to have intelligence funds). It’s a neccesity.

I don’t know how far back but from the time of Chairman Melo, they had. I talked to him.”

Brillantes stressed everything is above board. “Ako wala akong tinatago. Kapag pera ang pinaguusapan natin wala akong tinatago kaya hindi ako natatakot. Tinanggap nya (Lagman). Sinoli nya nung di sya na-confirm.”

FOR 2013, the Comelec has a budget of P8.26B, and there is no entry in it for intelligence funds. The Budget department however clarified that based on the general provisions of the 2013 budget, Comele was given P30M in confidential and intelligence funds.

Lagman clarifies, he only raised this now because Brillantes has been accusing him of not accomplishing anything during his few months as commissioner.

Lagman also rebutted the poll chief’s claims that he was pushing for an alternative election technology.”Since I am not a vendor of election systems, I’d like to ask him what kind of business I might be interested in when precinct counting is manual. It will only cost about P2 billion, against what it cost us when the COMELEC decided to use PCOS – P11.3 billion in 2010 and over P8 billion in 2013. We have been explaining since 2008 that the system will only need laptops and servers that the Commission can buy from Filipino computer shops in the major cities, thus also reducing the expenses for logistics. These laptops and servers can be passed on to the Department of Education after every election, so there will virtually be no warehousing and maintenance cost. “

Lagman added. “Suppose I reverse his question: Might there be business interests on the part of some COMELEC officials who participated in the decision to purchase the PCOS system and related items that cost the Filipino people over P8 billion?”

the statement also expounded on lagman’s track record as a poll commissioner, rebutting brillantes’ claims that he didn’t help address the criticisms he raised against the automated election system during his time as poll commissioner.

“Despite my not being a lawyer, I was “raffled” an equal share of election cases as the other Commissioners. However, during my first two months I could not attend to the cases assigned to me, as I was still hiring staff (lawyers and clerks). In effect, therefore, I only spent about nine months studying, signing, and releasing election cases. In that span of time, I signed a total of 443 resolutions of election cases assigned to the other Commissioners, 87 of my own decisions (including 70 that have been promulgated and 17 decisions pending promulgation), and 16 separate opinions (dissenting, concurring, separate). “

Brillantes also clarified his statements questioning lagman’s accomplishments. “Wala syang accomplishment as far as the automated elections is concerned. Ang biggest accomplishment nya- he decided on 400 cases, na hindi naman sya abugado.”

Brillantes hinted he is prepared for what else Lagman may say. “he better prepare also for other things if that’s the case I will look for his entire accounting while he’s here kaya nga di ko maintindihan pinagusapan trabaho niya pera expose niya gusto niya gumanti ako wala ako tinatago rito”

Brillantes also isn’t buying claims there is no conspiracy among critics of the automated election system.

“hindi ah pare pareho napansin may mali 3  years na nila sinasbai 3 taon paulit ulit  hindi pwedeng ano yun  sabihin mo kay gus oka lang kung gusto niayn pakaihin wala ako tinatago rito maski isa so hindi ako natatakot”

Brillantes reiterated his demand for lagman to show that the aes is erroneous.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes says the poll body, sitting as the national board of canvassers, may do a partial proclamation of winning party list groups Thursday.

the comelec en banc is due to meet Thursday afternoon over the proclamation.

the poll body is now computing who has enough votes to get seats in the party list system.

unlike elections for other positions, winners in the party list system must have at least 2% of the votes cast for party list groups to get one seat. additional seats maybe available to them as well as groups with less than 2% of the vote depending on their share of the party list votes. this will be determined through a formula prescribed by the supreme court.

the poll body has asked the party list candidates to submit their own computations for comparison with the comelec’s computation.

“sinong maysabi proclaim kami bukas. kinocompute pa naming kanina nakikinig ba kayo sinabi naming magsubmit  sila computayions nila gumagawa rin kami sarilin namin computation titignan naming kung magpartial proclamation kami bukas o sa biyernes. wala pa kami pinagagrehan”

Brillantes said at least 12 groups have one guaranteed seat already since they have the 2%.  the poll chief said there is a suggestion for these groups to be proclaimed ahead. “ sinasuggest nila meron nagsusugget lahat guaranteed one seat which is 12

other is 55 3 maiiwan may nagsuggest 50 o walo na lang”

Brillantes says those with 2% may get more seats.

the comelec he says is waiting for the arrival of more vote results that could alter the total number of votes cast—the base figure for determining the percentages.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes says the poll body is not investigating, but merely checking reports over social media about a 60-30-10 vote pattern for votes cast in the senatorial elections.

the pattern supposedly favors team pnoy.

“hindi naming pinagiintian iyon samin di impt yun di naming iniimbestigahan chinechek lang naming di naming iniimbetsigahan sobra naman yun napakaliit na bagay were checking all reports like any report chiencheck lang naming baka sakling tama we don’t think its important my initlal reaction not important anybody can speculate what it is”

the pattern was discovered by ateneo math professor lex muga and posted on social media.

Brillantes was asked about calls by the AESWATCH for him to resign amid problems in the automated elections last week. “na naman? hindi ako magreresign pag sila magpaparesign sakin im not threatening them they have been undermining elections for last 4 years its about time they explain  themselves  I want to see evidence to show may maling resulta  in 2010 and 2013 if they can prove it ill probably think about resigning but its not because of them but there was something wrong.”

as this developed, the poll chief said he is now verifying reports of corrupted compact flash cards which led to the failure of some pcos machines to transmit results. “wala pakong natatanggap na official  report pero palagay ko meron

may cf card na sira di ko alam kong naturally or deliberately corrupted

definitely it can be, defective yung ibang cf card meron din mga sinira or nasira sinira ng tao sinasawsaw sa tubig nilulubog sa tinta scratchin di ko alam di ako marunong eh kung ako ayoko lumabas resulta ng pcos sisirain ko cf card para walang maitransmit chinecheck pa naming.

Brillantes recalled that in 2010, there were also some problems with cf cards.

“nung 2010 kokonti di pa nila naintidhan signfinnace ng cf card ngayon everybody talking about cf card yung nagkwento pwede galawin cf card yun sinasbai ng mga tao gusto magfailure of election ganun pala pwede nakawin hijack sirain”

Brillantes says they will prosecute those who destroyed cf cards, noting it is an election offence. “kahit sino siya kung sinira mo cf card that’s destorying an election paraphernalia  which is signficant and important it will fall under election offense definitely para mong sinira election document.”

Brillantes added he hasn’t seen any reports about discrepancies in the results.

This after reports that the data from the final testing and sealing were transmitted instead of the actual results.  “nung 2010 fts din a dapat mangyari fts nasolve na naming prublemang iyon din a dapat mangyari yun nagtataka ko possible more very improbable”

the poll chief also is looking into reports over social media over a pattern of votes that supposedly went to the major parties in the senatorial race.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes says the poll body, sitting as the national board of canvassers is still canvassing votes and computing the percentages of the votes received by each group. “possible tomorrow or thrusday or Friday at worse”

the supreme court in a 2009 ruling said that party list groups with at least 2% of votes cast for party list get one guaranteed seat from the total number of congressional seats allocated to the party list.

separately, the remaining number of seats after the two percenters have their seats is allocated to all the other groups based on their ranking and share of votes in the total votes cast for party list that will be determined by a formula laid down by the high court.

a total of 58  congressional seats in the 16^th congress are up for grabs by party list groups in the last election.

Brillantes explained that the NBOC is now making 2 lists—one a tally of all the groups, another a tally excluding the 12 groups the poll body disqualified just days before the elections. one of the 12, Senior citizens, has sought relief before the High Court. so far, no restraining order has been issued by the high court over their appeal.

“binibilang pa naming kinocompute pa naming gumagawa kaming alternative kung eto kasali  to di kasali antayin na lang natin.maski number one siya disqualified  di pa rin siya kasali yun pag uusapan naming kung kasama sa 12 kasama ba 12 or hindi di naming kinoconsider maraming boto mo senior citizens is already in sc”

the poll body required the 12 groups to manifest their intent on whether or not they will file an appeal before the sc or not. “ wala pa manifestation iba well wait till tomorrow di kami nagmamadali matatapos natin till thursday or Friday”

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes says the voter turn out for the overseas absentee voting should go upto as much as 70% once internet voting for overseas Filipino voters is allowed by law.

Brillantes says he is disappointed by the low turn out from both the overseas and local absentee voters. “di ko alam di ako bumoto roon chinecheck naming im definitely disappoinetd about performance on oav as well as lav mababa pareho

wala tayong pagkukulang  konti lang lumabas di ko alam we’ll have to study if there will be internet voting should go uotp 60-70% old law being applied to now”

Brillantes pointed out that overseas voters may not always have the time to drop by the nearest diplomatic post to vote. “ di practicable punta sa embassy or consulate that’s basic requirement samki inotomate punta ka pa rin

solution is internet voting we will push for that for next kuwan”

the Committee on OAV estimated that the voter turn out for the last midterm election was just at 117 thousand votes.