'Delaying tactics' in canvass slammed
By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated May 31, 2010 12:00 AM
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MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Joker Arroyo yesterday slammed delaying tactics in the congressional canvass of
votes for president and vice president.
Arroyo said Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, should “abbreviate” its debates and do
away with “primitive” means of counting the votes for president and vice president so the winners could be
proclaimed soon and there could be an end to speculations that were causing instability.
Arroyo’s suggestion ran counter to that of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who said he wanted a
simulation of the transmission of results from the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to show that
cheating was impossible. This would convince the people, Enrile said, that the elections were credible.
Arroyo said a new president and vice president must be proclaimed by June 30 so anything that could
disrupt the canvassing must be avoided.
He said electoral protests should not be brought before the canvassers because the main task of Congress
was to count the votes and proclaim the winners.
“Congress (should) move fast; it has the obligation to proclaim. For example, if (Sen. Benigno) Noynoy
(Aquino III), even if he is leading, unless he is formally proclaimed, he is not the president. So the
canvassing must be abbreviated because many details were already coming in when we are not the
Presidential Electoral Tribunal,” Arroyo said over radio station dzBB.
“We are just the canvassers and it said there that the certificates of canvass sent to the Senate President
would be the basis for canvass. I repeat, the COCs electronically transmitted by city and provincial board of
canvassers would be the basis. After due execution and authenticity established, there is no other basis
except that COCs no matter what. That is what the law is, we cannot change that,” he said.
Arroyo said these COCs had been used to proclaim the 12 winning senators and that he could see no
reason how they could be different in terms of votes for the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
He said comparisons could be made if there were doubts on the results of the electronically transmitted
COCs.
Arroyo said the speedy counting and release of the results already assuaged fears that President Arroyo had
plans to extend her term or there would be failure of elections that could pave the way for a military to take
over or allow her to hold on to power.
Fears gone
“All these fears are gone, there are no more ambitions or illegal moves and all we have to do now is
proclaim the winners. They asked us to cooperate. It’s already good and if there is delay and we don’t get to
have a new president and vice president on time, who would be blamed for it? The Comelec (Commission
on Elections) and Congress,” Arroyo said.
He said Congress should not be a stumbling block and immediately give its blessings to the real winners in
the May 10 elections.
“Speculation and intrigue, that is the last thing we need now. We need stability, that the country is united. And
also automation may be a good thing, we should shorten the speculation or waiting period and Congress
should not ruin (the positive outcome of the automation),” he said.
Arroyo said he did not want to speculate on the motives of those questioning the results of the automated
polls since there were already a lot of controversies.
Arroyo added that Congress must display a more high-tech way of counting the votes because the people
would not be happy seeing their lawmakers belabor election issues and canvassing the old way when they
already got an idea of who won the presidential and vice presidential elections three days after the voting.
Simulation sought
For his part, Enrile said he wanted a simulation of how the results were transmitted from the PCOS
machines to end all speculations and erase all doubts on the new system used in the last elections.
“I just want to show the world and the members of the canvassing committee how the PCOS machines run,
what these (compact) flash cards are, what they contain and the movement of the reporting of the results
from the PCOS machines, where they went, including those in the municipal voting centers, provincial
canvassing centers, so the people will understand that it’s quite impossible to intercept the results,” Enrile
said also at dzBB.
“(We must prove the results are) clean,” he said.
Enrile said it might take time to finish preliminary issues but after that, they could go unhampered and
complete the canvassing of electronically transmitted results even just for a day.
The Senate chief said he was not sure if the other members of the canvassing board would agree with him
but it would be best to appease the people by showing it would be difficult to cheat using the PCOS
machines.
Enrile brushed aside calls for Congress to make sure there would be a new president and vice president
proclaimed the soonest possible time.
“June 15 is my target, we don’t presume, I don’t want to answer doubting Thomases anymore. I don’t want to
talk any further. They can think all they want and to death, let them be. If there will be problems, (there will be
proclamation) not later than June 28 or June 29. I will not allow us not to have a new president and vice
president even if they hang me,” Enrile said.
Enrile appealed to the public to trust that Congress would do what it has to do.
Appeal to losers
At the same time, Enrile appealed to losing candidates not to delay the congressional canvass.
Enrile said losers should not rake up allegations of fraud and cheating and ask the committee to investigate
such claims.
“We will not do that. They should present those allegations to the proper electoral tribunals. We will not allow
dilatory tactics,” he said.
By losers, Enrile, who is presiding over the canvass jointly with Speaker Prospero Nograles, was obviously
referring to presidential candidates who lost and incumbent congressmen who did not make it.
Losing presidential and vice presidential aspirants can file protests with the Supreme Court sitting as the
Presidential Electoral Tribunal, while congressional losers can file cases with the House of Representatives
Electoral Tribunal.
‘Don’t cover up’
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. asked officials of the Comelec not to cover up the
illegal disposal of used election paraphernalia in a dump in Cagayan de Oro City by falsely claiming that
they had been stolen from its office due to the negligence of election personnel.
Pimentel said the theory of pilferage was belied by the official report of the Cagayan de Oro police that there
were no signs that the 10 sacks of poll materials, including election returns, four compact flash (CF) cards
and official ballots found at the dump and partly brought to a junk shop, had been stolen.
The recovered materials were turned over to Archbishop Antonio Ledesma who is scheduled to testify on the
incident today before the 20-member joint committee of Congress tasked to canvass the votes cast for the
presidential and vice presidential candidates in the May 10 elections.
Based on the police report, Pimentel said the election paraphernalia were transported out of the Comelec
office two days after the elections by a truck with the marking “Comelec Service Center” allegedly driven by
one Federico Gempisao.
He said the name of the driver and license plate number have been identified by the police.
Still dissatisfied
Although Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal has given assurance that they are looking into the
unauthorized discarding of election paraphernalia, the senator from Cagayan de Oro expressed
dissatisfaction over the slow pace of the investigation and failure to identify Comelec personnel who may be
involved in the incident.
“Some 20 days after the incident, why has the Comelec, along with the Parish Pastoral Council on
Responsible Voting (PPCRV), not completed its investigation report? Worse, the Comelec initially stated that
there was nothing wrong with the disposal of the already used election paraphernalia,” he said.
Pimentel said it is the duty of Comelec to keep custody and preserve all these materials since they may be
used as evidence to resolve electoral protests and complaints of cheating.
“The fact that these materials had been prematurely thrown away has given rise to suspicion that there was
a deliberate attempt to destroy possible pieces of evidence of electoral fraud,” he said.
Pimentel said Nograles has confirmed that the joint committee has scheduled Archbishop Ledesma at the
resumption of the canvassing this afternoon.
He said the archbishop has requested that a local PPCRV representative be allowed to corroborate his
testimony, especially in explaining the retrieved CF cards of which he is not knowledgeable.
Pimentel expressed support for the move of fellow lawmakers to get to the bottom of the alleged padding
and shaving of votes for certain candidates through the tampering or pre-programming of the CF cards
which contain instruction on the entries in the PCOS machines.
He, however, challenged complaining candidates to muster the courage to reveal the identities of the
members, agents or brokers of electoral fraud syndicates, including Comelec officials, who allegedly
approached them and offered their services to make them win in exchange for a hefty fee running into
several millions of pesos.
Pimentel said even the very reputation of the Comelec is at stake because of allegations that certain high
officials of the poll body were involved. - With Jess Diaz
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