Abalos: Polls to push through

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos and members of a joint Senate-House oversight committee on the May 10 elections assured the nation yesterday that the polls will push through as scheduled.

In a hearing presided over by committee co-chairman Sen. Edgardo Angara, Abalos and lawmakers rejected a suggestion from former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod for the procurement of a special watermarking machine that would print additional security marks on ballots and election returns because it would mean postponing the elections.

Abalos and members of the congressional oversight committee agreed that to lessen chances of electoral fraud, the Comelec would not print extra ballots.

"Yes, that is our plan," Abalos told the committee chaired jointly by Angara and Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus.

"Unlike in the past when the commission printed extra ballots equivalent to 20 percent of all registered voters, we intend to print only one ballot for every voter," he said.

Abalos said voters should thus take care of the ballots that the board of election inspectors will give them on election day so as not to destroy or invalidate them.

In the event that a ballot is destroyed or invalidated, a voter can request for another ballot which would be taken from those intended for voters who may not be able to cast their vote, he added.

Abalos told lawmakers that the National Printing Office, an agency under the Office of the Press Secretary, will print the ballots and election returns.

He said accredited political parties should see to it that they have representatives watching the entire printing process.

Abalos said the Comelec intends to use for ballots and election returns the P400 million worth of security paper that it has procured for the computerized election process that is no longer possible in the wake of the Supreme Court decision voiding the contract for automated counting machines.

He added that the paper already contains security marks but that if political parties are not satisfied with these, they can suggest additional security safeguards.

It was at this point that Monsod, one of several resource persons invited by the oversight committee, suggested the procurement of a special watermarking machine that he said the Comelec used during his time as chairman.

But Monsod said it would take 80 to 90 days to buy the machine from abroad and bring it to Manila, and that would mean delaying the elections.

Abalos and committee members also agreed that there would be no clustering of polling precincts inside military and police camps, and the Comelec would go slow in reassigning military and police commanders as these officers could be used by certain candidates to disturb the election process or tamper with the vote.

Another election safeguard would be the conduct by the Comelec itself and the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections of quick counts.

Committee members criticized the poll body’s decision to go into an unofficial count in addition to its official canvass of votes, saying it would just confuse the public.

But Abalos defended the Comelec quick count, for which the agency is spending at least P300 million.

"It is one way of checking possible dagdag-bawas (vote shaving and padding)," said the former Mandaluyong mayor. "I was once a victim of this illegal operation, so I am very concerned about this."

He said under the Comelec quick count plan, results from the more than 200,000 polling precincts throughout the country would be transmitted to the commission’s main office in Manila via a special electronic transmission equipment called very small aperture terminal or VSAT.

The votes will then be tallied in Manila so the Comelec would know in a few days the results on a per town, city and province basis, he said.

"If we are able to do that quickly, then unscrupulous people will have to think twice in tampering with the election returns or substituting them in the municipal, city and provincial levels because they know that we have the results in advance," he stressed.

He pointed out that it is while the canvassing and tallying are being done in towns, cities and provinces that election returns are tampered with or substituted and dagdag-bawas takes place.

Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Rodolfo Biazon, who were once victims of dagdag-bawas, agreed with Abalos.

At one point during the hearing, Abalos showed irritation over insinuations that the Comelec can no longer be trusted with the people’s votes especially after the Supreme Court decision voiding the contract for the automated counting machines.

"If that is the perception of the public, then I myself will advocate the abolition of the Comelec," he said.

During the hearing, Senate President Franklin Drilon criticized the Department of Foreign Affairs for "bloating" its $4.5-million budget request for the implementation of the Absentee Voting Law in May.

"I think the DFA saw this absentee voting system as an opportunity to bloat its budget and for its personnel to see the world at the expense of the Filipino people. It’s totally uncalled for," he said.

He said based on the DFA plan, it would send seven personnel to Moscow, where only 25 Filipinos registered to participate in the May elections.

Another seven would be sent to Prague, where there are only 30 voters, he said.

Warning vs election fraud

Abalos also warned candidates who are "tickled pink at the thought of a manual system" for the May 10 elections and who are now engaged in preparations to rig the elections "in the traditional manner."

He said the Comelec will still be using its satellite transmission equipment to obtain election results as quickly as 30 hours from the close of voting hours.

"This leaves very little room for desperate candidates to manipulate the results of the elections," Abalos said. "They would have to be superhuman to undertake vote-padding, vote-shaving and other conventional cheating methods in so short a time."

Abalos said there are no legal impediments that will prevent the Comelec from implementing what would have been phase three of the Election Modernization Program, even as the Supreme Court nullified the Comelec’s contract with the consortium that won the bidding to supply the automated counting machines.

"Of course, we do not discount that some people may move heaven and earth to prevent us from implementing this last attempt to eliminate delays," he said.

With the Supreme Court’s decision, the Comelec has reverted to preparations for a manual system. Abalos said in a statement that the safety of ballots, election returns and certificates of canvass is "of paramount importance."

"We are moving double, even triple time," Abalos said. "By Tuesday next week, we should be ready to present a sample ballot to representatives of political parties and party-list groups."

"Devoid now of technology for the counting process, we are putting in place additional layers of security to make sure there will be less instances of ballot-switching and ballot-tampering," Abalos said.

While he expressed disappointment that the counting process would have to be undertaken using a crude, mistake-prone system of canvass, Abalos said that, "with regard to the time factor, all is not lost."

According to him, "we can still ensure the delays are prevented because the longer it takes for the public to know the winners, unscrupulous elements will have more time on their hands to alter the results."

Abalos also said at the congressional oversight committee hearing on poll automation at the Senate session hall that the Comelec still intends to use the transmission equipment - "at least for an unofficial count."