‘There’s hope for honest elections but…’

There is still hope for an honest election in the future but only if three Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials are replaced, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said yesterday.

Pimentel said that Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos and Commissioners Resurreccion Borra and Florentino Tuason Jr. could be charged criminally by the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan without waiting for them to be impeached.

There have been moves to impeach the three Comelec officials for alleged involvement in anomalies.

"I do not know if they have been filed with the House of Representatives but my own position is that the Comelec officials, even if they are supposed to be removable only by impeachment, are not of the same category as the President or the members of the Supreme Court," Pimentel explained.

Thus, he said they could be charged before the court directly even before they are impeached.

Pimentel, a guest at the weekly Fernandina media forum at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan yesterday, expressed admiration, however, for the three new Comelec commissioners: Romeo Brawner, Rene Sarmiento and Nicodemo Ferrer.

Former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod, also a guest at the forum, also had good words for the new commissioners, whom he said have reputations for honesty and expertise in law and were not involved in the anomalous (poll automation) contract.

Pimentel, however, expressed support for the computerization of elections though he and his colleagues at the Senate "do not trust the Comelec."

"We have discussed this (computerization) during a caucus the other day with the Senators… We are in favor of this, but in all honesty, we don’t trust the Comelec. So, there is a big ‘if’ that has developed in the minds of several members of the Senate about the propriety of even modernizing the electoral count at this point with the same people or the ones controlling the Comelec… There is a big reservation," he said.

"Even Sen. Serge (Sergio Osmeña III) said there is no machine that is not ‘unhackable.’ But even so, we are still looking for a way to minimize the possible cheating and ensure that it would not be manipulated by the people," he added.

Pimentel also cited the Supreme Court ruling that nullified the contract for the acquisition of automated counting machines.

"My advice is that we must not use the machines. Recover the money that was paid for. That is the order of the Supreme Court. And continue with the investigation of the responsibility of the people involved. And I recommend that the Comelec do not buy machines anymore. I suggest that they just rent (the machines) because the elections are only conducted every three years. After three years, the counting machines will be obsolete," he said.

Meanwhile, Monsod expressed doubts that the elections in 2007 would be automated.

"Even if the House and the Senate would be able to pass the new automation law which is technology neutral, it would still not be possible to automate the elections in 2007," he said.

Monsod lauded the effort of both chambers of Congress to craft an automation law that is technology neutral but the people still need to be trained on the use of the machines and new technology and there is simply no more time for that. — Sandy Araneta