COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia on Thursday vowed to file an ethics complaint against his detractor soon after he gets hold of the results of the ongoing investigation over claims by a member of the House of Representatives that he owns 49 offshore bank accounts with a combined deposit of at least $15.2 million or almost P1 billion.
At the same time, Garcia appealed to both Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis Escudero not to allow their chambers to be used by people who disseminate lies to and destroy the credibility and integrity of other people.
Aside from 49 offshore bank accounts, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), on Garcia’s own request, are also investigating allegations by the same critics that he also owns six local bank accounts and several properties abroad.
Garcia said that an ethics complaint should be filed to show that nobody is above the law, regardless of one’s status in life, particularly if it involves falsification of documents.
“Once the NBI has come out with their findings, I will file an ethics complaint. The finding of an agency like the NBI is credible [because] it is a product of a combined investigation of all the documents and testimonies,” he added.
Garcia said aside from him, there are other individuals, groups and organizations who are also eager to file a case.
“I could not stop them. Nobody could stop them if they wanted to file a case,” he added, saying that within the Comelec alone, there is a big group which wanted to file a case to defend the institution from people who wanted to destroy the integrity of the commission through misinformation, disinformation and fake documents.
Garcia said it was “obvious” that there was a well-funded machine behind the demolition job against him.
“This is a series of attacks. As I said, based on my information, individual members of the commission would be next. It is a well-oiled grand operation,” Garcia said, adding that even his past media posts were not spared by paid trolls.
Garcia noted that the address in Barbados of Albatross Technologies Corp. and that of the Comelec’s former provider is the same.
“Is it a coincidence? I hope it can be explained to us,” he said. “There is only one conclusion to that but I don’t want to make that conclusion.”
Earlier, in a Viber message to reporters, Garcia said that the owner of consulting firm Jaleo Consulting LLC, appeared to be owned by a certain Jose A. Herrera, a lawyer, and also a director of Albatross Technologies with office address at 26 Pine Road, Pine Lodge, St., Michael Barbados.”
Garcia said that based on the presentation of Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, Jaleo Consulting LLC deposited $100 each to two bank accounts that allegedly belong to Garcia. The first deposit was made from Chase Bank to New York Bank and the other from Chase Bank to a bank in Cayman Island.
Marcoleta said if Garcia had grounds for his complaint, he should file it.
Marcoleta on July 31 filed a resolution seeking an investigation by the House of Representatives on the alleged deposits to offshore bank accounts linked to a “Comelec official.”
Marcoleta also said that only the NBI could establish if there was a link to the Comelec’s former technology partner Smartmatic.
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