Lakas-Kampi CMD standard bearer Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. Sunday called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) not to tap poll officials who were previously implicated in election anomalies so as to preserve the integrity of the country’s first automated polls on May 10 this year.

“This election is so important and crucial to the future of the next generation that it should reflect the will of the Filipino people voting freely,” Teodoro said in a statement.

“Any manipulation of the electoral process or even a hint thereof at any level is unacceptable,” said Teodoro, adding that a tainted result would not be accepted by the Filipino people.

President Arroyo herself was implicated in the “Hello Garci” when an alleged wire-tapped conversation between her and then Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano was made public by former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Samuel Ong last June 10, 2005.

The “Hello Garci” scandal triggered a congressional inquiry which led to the filing of impeachment proceedings against Mrs. Arroyo before the lower house. However, President Arroyo’s allies in Congress junked the impeachment case.

The controversy also triggered numerous protest rallies joined by opposition personalities, including former President Corazon Aquino, who called for the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo.

Several military officials, including former Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., were also linked to the alleged election manipulation but was later cleared by a special investigating body then headed by Admiral Mateo Mayuga of the Philippine Navy.

Teodoro said that the Comelec should initiate “iron-clad” guarantees to prevent election result manipulators who were implicated in the “Hello Garci” controversy in the May, 2004 elections from having any involvement in the forthcoming May 10 polls.

Teodoro said the May election is so important to the Filipino people that a fraudulent result would be a “serious setback” to national efforts to reform the country’s economy to fight poverty, improve public health care and education, enhance national stability and raise the bar of governance at every level of the political structure.