COMELEC forms fact-finding team to investigate 2016 elections

The Commission on Election (COMELEC) has formed a fact-finding team to investigate all contracts and relevant information related to the procurement of the automated election system used in the 2016 presidential and national elections, COMELEC chairperson George Garcia said.

"We created a task force to investigate whatever happened that year. We want to know the root cause. Are the accusations true?" Garcia said in a news conference on Monday.

Garcia handpicked 12 members of the "chairman's task force" before the year's end to complete the investigation.

"On the part of the Comelec, particularly on my part, we created a task force, a chairman's task force, to investigate whatever had happened during the time being discussed and talked about" Garcia added.

The investigation was brought on by news that former Comelec chairperson Andres Bautista had been charged with money laundering and conspiracy by the US Department of Homeland Security before a US district court in Florida on 19 September.

On his social media account, Bautista posted that he "did not ask for nor receive any bribe money from Smartmatic or any other entity"
He also said he was surprised by the charges since he was not contacted to comment on the complaint.

Garcia said he directed all Comelec divisions to deliver all the documents and records pertaining to the procurement of the automated election system in 2016.