SAGIP Party-List Rep. Rodante Marcoleta on Thursday said Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia’s alleged offshore bank accounts do exist contrary to the poll body’s claims.
Marcoleta at the same time appealed to fellow lawmakers to support a congressional inquiry on the matter “to ensure the integrity of the upcoming 2025 Philippine elections and to preserve the exercise of each Filipino voter’s inherent right to suffrage.”
Marcoleta voiced concerns over what he described as “intriguing” million-dollar offshore bank accounts that appear to be connected to the poll body’s P18-billion deal with South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. for the 2025 midterm elections.
Marcoleta said the burden has now shifted to Garcia, for the Comelec Chairman to prove these solid pieces of evidence wrong, if he can. But Garcia denied the allegations levelled against him even as he expressed readiness to attend the congressional hearing to clear his name.
Marcoleta last Wednesday filed House Resolution 1827, which directed the Lower House’s Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms and other appropriate committees to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, on the alleged deposits made to several offshore accounts of Garcia by persons connected to Miru during the run-up to the P18-billion contract awarded by the Comelec to the controversial South Korean firm to collect and count votes in next year’s national and local polls.
