Friends of the Poor and the Workers, a national network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals, has come to the aid of Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin S. Abalos who has recently been the subject of an "orchestrated harassment" centered on his alleged involvement in the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) deal.

Fr. Victor R. Factor, Jr. the network's Program Director, said the NBN controversy deal affecting Chairman Abalos was "a product of wild imaginations of people who has an axe to grind on him."

"We could not believe that such a man would be involved in a controversy which he was not a player or a person who could influence in awarding such a project. Again, it is a simple and orchestrated harassment not only to Chairman Abalos but to the Commission on Elections as a whole," Fr. Factor said adding that to tarnish the image of Abalos is tantamount to tarnishing the image of the COMELEC as an institution. "We do not believe that Chairman Abalos could do the things that his accuser is pointing to" he adds.

Fr. Factor furthered that even if the poll body's chairman has admitted that some officials of the Chinese firm ZTE Corp. are indeed his friends, it doesn't prove his involvement in the deal.

"We in the Friends of the Poor and the Workers is always asking, IS IT A SIN TO HAVE FRIENDS? The Christian virtue would always encourage us to make friends and not enemies. Yes, Chairman Abalos has admitted that some officials who are involved in this Broadband Network Project are his friends. But in admitting that they are his friends, does this mean that he is now involved in that controversy?" said Fr. Factor.

Friends of the Poor and the Workers is a Quezon City based network of organizations and individuals and its programs are centered on rural development.

It has years of partnership with the COMELEC on its voter education programs and projects, Fr. Factor said.