Such crude attempts, Puno said, include the surfacing of a witness, now known in the media either as Robin or the “Koala Boy,” who had made unsubstantiated claims about electoral fraud, and an alleged taped conversation between him and a Comelec Commissioner on a supposed plan to rig the May 2010 poll results.

 

Puno labelled the people behind these gimmicks as “enterprising idiots” whose obvious goal was to smear the integrity of the electoral process and  derail the proclamation of the country’s new Chief Executive, as their attempts were timed just before the start of the national canvassing of the votes for president and vice president.    

 

“I think it is a deliberate attempt to try to derail the proclamation process and I hope that people will not allow this to happen,” Puno told the Malacanang Press Corps in a press briefing at the Angeles University, where this week’s Cabinet meeting was held.

Puno said: “I call upon everybody to try to focus on the canvassing and the proclamation. That’s really what this is all about. The country is still waiting for the proper proclamation and that is the only thing that will settle everybody down so that we can proceed with the orderly transition into the next administration.”

Puno told the reporters after the Cabinet meeting that he had asked the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to quietly investigate who were behind the fabrication of the taped conversation that supposedly took place between him and Comelec Commissioner Nicomedes Ferrer so that he “could throw the book at them” and file the appropriate charges.

 

He said it does not take a forensic or voice expert to find out that the voices in the tape were neither his’ nor Commissioner Ferrer’s.

 

“I challenge anyone (who has heard the tape) to say that that was my voice,” Puno said.

 

Puno said he was certain that  President Arroyo was “not happy” over these  attempts to besmirch the country’s first ever automated electoral process, even as he pointed out that she herself has been thoroughly preparing her Cabinet for the orderly transition of power come June 30.

 

“In today’s Cabinet meeting, we spent a long time discussing about the transition. Kung ang Presidente naghahanda na sa transition, sana naman yung mga hindi naman apektado as directly eh sundin na talaga yung maliwanag na napahayag na  kagustuhan ng ating mga kababayan (If the President herself is already preparing for the transition, then we hope that those that are not affected as directly will heed the clear desire of our people).” Puno said.

 

As to whether there were attempts by those supposedly involved in election fraud to approach administration candidate Gibo Teodoro, Puno said he does not think so, as he knows the Teodoro would not approve of such illegal ploys.

 

Several candidates for local positions who were defeated in the recently concluded elections have claimed that they were approached by unidentified persons and offered to rig the elections in their favor.

 

“I don’t believe that he (Gibo) was approached. Gibo would never have anything to do with that,” Puno said.

 

He said knowing Gibo, the former defense secretary would “physically throw out” any person who would broach such a proposal.

 

Puno said that as DILG Secretary, “ I will not allow anything that is going to delay the orderly valid and legal proclamation of the next President of the Republic.