BAYAN MUNA CHARGES GONZALES, BANGIT WITH ELECTION OFFENSES, CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF MISUSE OF INTELLIGENCE FUNDS FOR ELECTORAL FRAUD AND PARTISAN POLITICAL ACTIVITY
Bayan Muna representative and senatorial candidate Satur Ocampo will file a complaint at the COMELEC today against generals Delfin Bangit and Reynaldo Mapagu, and Department of National Defense Ssecretary Norberto Gonzales for partisan political activity and harassment conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines against supporters of Bayan Muna, senatorial candidate Satur Ocampo and other progressive candidates.
Bayan Muna wants COMELEC to prosecute Bangit, Gonzales, and Mapagu for misusing their official powers and functions, by ordering military personnel to conduct nationwide, organized, and systematic attacks against Bayan Muna's candidates and supporters, including the use of public funds to fund these activities.
Bayan Muna is also asking COMELEC to subpoena the military’s intelligence funds expenditure to investigate if these were spent on electoral intervention and fraud.
These acts of the military are partisan political activity and a clear violation of the Omnibus Election Code. The complaint is part of a series of complaints already filed against military officers in Sorsogon, South Cotabato and Davao.
“We have officials in the military and in the government especially Bangit, Mapagu, and Gonzales who have turned deaf despite the glaring evidence of violations committed by their subordinates. We will make sure that the perpetrators of these attacks are seriously prosecuted to hammer the message that the military should not interfere in the elections," Bayan Muna representative and legal counsel Neri Colmenares said. "We hope this will serve as a warning to those who persist in harassing us that we will not take this sitting down.”
“We are now asking the Commission on Elections to act with speed on this complaint and they should not, unlike the military, be numb to these violations,” he said.###
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