MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Philippine National Police and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting will launch Monday separate probes on the election paraphernalia found at a junk shop in Cagayan de Oro City.

Compact flash cards, back-up memory cards, official ballots and election returns were discovered at a landfill in Barangay Carmen, which were then sold to a junk shop in Puntod, Macabalan.

The discovery raised fears elections in some of the city's precincts had been rigged. The Comelec is still validating if the election materials were those that went missing on May 12 after the proclamation of winning local candidates.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. has urged election authorities to investigate the reported dumping of 16 sacks filled with election returns and related paraphernalia in the junk shop.  He said such election materials should be preserved and kept by the Comelec since they may be used in resolving electoral protests by the candidates and parties concerned.
 
Such disturbing incidents, he said, only fuel the suspicion that fraud perpetrators have started destroying evidence of poll cheating. Some groups have already warned the Comelec against destroying the compact flash cards or memory cards.
 
“It was patently irresponsible for Comelec to say that they found nothing wrong about the disposal and dumping of the used election paraphernalia in Cagayan de Oro by claiming that they were of no use anymore because the elections are over,” Pimentel said.