The Philippine government said Thursday it would investigate fresh allegations that former leader Gloria Arroyo used the police to steal the 2004 presidential election. The inquiry will look into claims by a senior police officer that he broke into parliament in 2005 to switch election documents stored there so that Arroyo’s victory would survive a recount, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said.
“We’ve always known that in each election there’s cheating, but the scale of it in 2004, based on the various bits and pieces that we’ve been getting from our sources… it’s really mind-boggling,” de Lima told reporters. She said Arroyo’s win could not be overturned by a finding of fraud, but the evidence could be used to file criminal charges against those involved.
De Lima said the police officer would testify at the inquiry next week that he and a small group of other policemen were ordered by their superiors to swap legitimate election papers kept at parliament in Manila with fake ones.
The documents recorded the votes obtained by the presidential candidates per precinct.
Full Article: Philippines to probe Arroyo vote ‘fraud’ – Channel NewsAsia.