EXCLUSIVE
Jade De ocampo Deinla
BESIDES Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr., three other poll body commissioners were allegedly offered a total of P6.5 million in exchange for the release of a P68-million claim (not P43 million as earlier reported) by a private contractor, said the
Information Technology (IT) consultant who was fired last month for alleged bribery.
Jade De ocampo Deinla, during a recent interview with The Manila Times, denied being the go-between for Comelec and the contractor, Ximex, saying that he only got to know about the figures when asked about the “going rates.”
“Up to now, I swear I never knew anybody from Ximex. As [Brillantes’] consultant then, I only followed an order to check on reports that there was money being offered and when I came back to report the information I got, I was set up,” Deinla said.
He added that he was informed by a ranking Comelec official that two commissioners had been swayed to sponsor two separate resolutions — one for the release of P48 million and another for P20 million — in favor of Ximex.
“I have no direct knowledge or hand about it but I gathered from industry sources that the offer was actually P1 million each for three commissioners and P3.5 million for the chairman. To arrive at a majority, at least four officials should sign (the resolutions),” Deinla disclosed.
He said that he would “spill the beans,” “name all” and “tell all” in time about the supposed bribery attempt on Brillantes that had caused his dismissal from Comelec in September.
“My name was tarnished. My reputation and family are at stake. My friends who knew me in and out of Comelec have advised that I should come out clean. I was the victim here. I was too naive, too young and too trusting. That was my only fault,” the 30-year-old Deinla stressed.
Termination
In a one-page Notice of Termination obtained by The Times dated September 9, 2011 and signed by Brillantes and copies of which were furnished all the six Comelec commissioners, Executive Director Jose Tolentino Jr. and Adolfo Ibanez of the Personnel department, Brillantes fired Deinla, who was reportedly endorsed to the Comelec chief by Commissioner Augusto Lagman.
Deinla recalled that he was summoned by Brillantes to his office on the day he was fired.
“There I suspected that he was feeding words into my mouth. He was leading me to say things that could incriminate me and I realized that our conversation was being recorded,” he said.
Deinla admitted that it was Lagman who invited him to join the Comelec sometime in July as Brillantes’ consultant on IT matters.
He said that the Comelec chief incessantly asked him if Lagman could be talked into supporting the Ximex resolution.
It turned out that Brillantes was just testing him.
“So I went to Commissioner Lagman and asked him but he told me that he would vote either in favor or against the resolution based on the merits of the case. I can vouch for the integrity of Commissioner Lagman. He is 101 percent incorruptible. He will never accept any bribe,” Deinla pointed out.
He said that some sectors in the Comelec, especially those who hold career positions, were threatened by his and Lagman’s presence in the poll body.
Lagman has made it clear to him that their mission would be to “reform” the Comelec, which has found itself in a number of controversies from supply anomalies to alleged poll fraud in the past.
“There was a plan to buy 500 laptop units at P80,000 each. When I studied the specifications, I cut down the procurement price to only P36,000 each. Many did not like it and were offended by it. But it was the right thing to do,” Deinla said.
Sacrificial lamb
The IT expert suspected that he was the victim of an “operation” inside the Comelec.
Deinla said that part of the reform measures that he and Lagman were planning was the conduct of technical audit in the agency to find out if the money spent on IT equipment was aboveboard and proper.
“We were planning to make an audit covering the past five years, including the 2010 computerized elections and other IT-related projects of Comelec. We needed to find out if the cash spent on these technologies matched the specifications,” Deinla said.
“I was an escape goat and a sacrificial lamb in a snake pit,” he added.
Never again
After what happened, Deinla said he will never again work for government in any capacity.
“Bright, young people are losing interest to work in the government primarily because of these things. I am quitting government service for good,” he added.
Deinla said that he had discussed the matter with his lawyer and will come up with a more detailed statement on the incident “in the next few days.”
Ximex claim
The monetray claim of Ximex with the Comelec was for the transfer of ballot boxes and election paraphernalia during the national polls.
It served as a forwarding company during those elections in the Visayas and Mindanao and the Caraga Region.
It was suggested that the P3 million should only be paid using the Comelec’s computation — pegged price multiplied by the number of ballot boxes transported.
In the barangay (village) polls, Ximex was seeking the payment of P20 million but the Comelec decided that P5 million should be the real cost because there were problems encountered during the transport such as delay in the delivery of the ballot boxes and election paraphernalia, some of which were not delivered at all to some places.
This contract with Ximex was entered into by the Comelec during the tenure of the poll body’s then chief, Jose Melo.
