Postponement of polls not an option - Comelec

MANILA, Philippines - Postponing the polls on Monday is not an option for the Commission on Elections (Comelec), despite calls for a 15-day delay after some vote counting machines malfunctioned during test runs.

“Now is the time to work together as a people and as a nation,” Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said in a press briefing yesterday.

“Those who are liable will be held liable; those who are negligent will be held accountable. But for now, let us work together to ensure that the elections will work on May 10, 2010,” he said.

More than 76,000 memory cards from precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the general elections on May 10 have been recalled after tests found they failed to read ballots and print accurate results.

Analysts have long expressed concern that the untested system left the door open for vote fraud or, in the worst case, failed elections that could lead to instability and civil unrest.

“I was informed that there are text messages circulating that the elections will be postponed for two weeks. There is no truth to that. While the commission has discussed all possible options and scenarios, we have not voted on any postponement,” Larrazabal said.

“Despite the problems, we hope that we can set aside the finger-pointing, the bickering, and the text brigades that only fan unfounded rumors,” he added.

He said Smartmatic, the supplier of the vote-counting machines, was ready to ship new and reconfigured memory cards throughout the country for tests in the next two days.

More than a dozen helicopters were made available by top private sector firms and businessmen to deliver the memory cards to 80 provinces ahead of the elections on Monday, he added.

The Philippine Air Force has also offered to help deliver the memory cards to remote islands and mountain villages to cut delivery time by 80-90 percent, Larrazabal said.

“We are committed to pull this through. There will be elections on May 10,” Cesar Flores, Smartmatic’s president for Asia, told the news conference at the Comelec office in Intramuros.

Flores said 40,000 new memory cards from Taiwan and another 30,000 cards from Hong Kong would arrive on Thursday to replace the faulty software in voting machines.

About 25,000 cards were pulled from the machines for reconfiguration yesterday at Smartmatic’s warehouse in Laguna to correctly read and tally votes, he said.

More than 50 million Filipinos are eligible to vote for president and nearly 18,000 national and local positions.  

Still an option

But Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said postponement of the elections is an option, but only in some areas.

“It’s an option if Smartmatic is unable to replace the CF cards in far-flung barangays in the country,” Melo said.

He also said special elections may be held in five percent of the polling precincts in far-flung areas, which are likely to receive their CFs late.

“We are preparing for the possibility that the CF cards will not reach some areas on time. When that happens, special elections will be held there. It’s more difficult to rush things and then fail,” he said.

“Smartmatic said that they would be able to deploy the CF cards and all PCOS machines shall have been tested by Saturday or at the latest by Sunday,” Melo pointed out.

“That is why Sunday is the crucial date that we are looking at,” Melo added.

He, however, ruled out manual counting of votes in case the PCOS machines malfunction on election day.

Palace’s appeal

With the Comelec ruling out a postponement of the elections, Malacañang said it’s now time to stop political noise and let the poll body do its job.

“As we have said, our position is to defer to the discretion and due diligence of Comelec,” deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said.

“Whatever help they need from us, let us give it to them wholeheartedly,” he said, referring to the Comelec.

“This goes hand-in-hand with our call to our citizens, when they receive decisions like this and when they appreciate the reasoning behind it, to please try to exclude the political noise that comes out whenever these decisions come out,” he said.

Olivar also clarified that the proposal to postpone the elections coming from election lawyer Romulo Macalintal should not be attributed to President Arroyo.

“The comments issued by Attorney Macalintal were made as an independent election lawyer who has other clients aside from the President,” Olivar said.

“For the record, he did not claim to speak for the President nor was he in fact speaking for the President when he made his opinion,” he added.

In a statement yesterday, Macalintal said he sought a postponement “to prevent failure of election or holdover of incumbent elective officials.”

“With the recent revelations of hitches and glitches by Comelec and Smartmatic, it is imperative to postpone the elections for 15 days to prevent the scenario of failure and holdover and give ample time for Comelec to prepare,” Macalintal said.

“If candidates and political parties agree to push through with the May 10 polls then they would have no reason to complain if the same hitches affect the polls as they waived their right to avail of the remedy of postponement of polls,” Macalintal’s statement read.

Pwersa ng Masa presidential candidate Joseph Estrada also pushed for a postponement and a shift to manual counting, saying “a little delay is better than the death of our democracy.”

Sen. Miriam Santiago, on the other hand, said the law does not allow postponement of national polls.

“There is a big difference between postponement of elections and declaration of failure of elections. In the case of postponement, the law allows it only in a political subdivision, such as a town or a province. In the case of failure of elections, the law allows it nationwide,” Santiago said.

Trust Comelec

As the Comelec reeled from criticism, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) appealed to voters to keep their trust in the poll body.

“We have to depend on the institution,” PCCI vice chairman Donald Dee said.

“We will accept any option in order to ensure transparent and credible elections,” he added.

Dee said the focus should be on fixing the problems and not on pressing for a full manual count.

He said a full manual count might only delay the release of poll results as there may not be enough time to print election returns.

“We want the elections to continue. We want the elections to happen when it is supposed to happen,” Dee stressed.

“We know that May 10 is a major concern because Philippine competitiveness and economic growth will depend on how business- and investment-friendly is the next leader of our country,” PCCI president Francis Chua said.

The PCCI is also appealing to factories, specifically steel mills, to suspend operations on election day in order to ensure steady supply of electricity at polling precincts. Chua said factories and steel mills use up so much electricity.

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chair Leila de Lima also urged the public to give the Comelec the chance to address the glitches in poll automation.

“God forbid, if there will be failure of elections, there will be military intervention. Let’s give the Comelec the chance to fix the problem,” said De Lima.

She admitted that the problem with the CF cards “is a seriously disturbing one and casts even greater doubt and creates even more uncertainty for the already uncertain automated process.”

De Lima’s appeal was made on the sidelines of the signing of the CHR-Philippine National Police (PNP) memorandum of understanding on ensuring clean and orderly elections.

“May 10 will be a crucial day, a pivotal event, one whose consequence will reverberate through our society for years, perhaps decades to come,” she said.

“This election is a litmus test for our democracy, and we will have major human rights consequences. This is why we must closely monitor developments.”

PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa welcomed the partnership with the CHR and said his men were “prepared for any eventuality.”

He said the PNP would work closely with the CHR “in monitoring the election security operations and (in) seeing to it that human rights are upheld and protected every step of the way.”

National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) council member Guillermo Luz, for his part, said a postponement “will create greater room for problems, for misperception, for instabilities.”

“It’s not a risk worth taking,” Luz told a news conference.

“Safeguards can still be put in place. The Comelec should also accept the help that is being offered to them… the IT groups are offering a lot of assistance,” he said. With Christina Mendez, Jose Rodel Clapano, Alexis Romero, Pia Lee-Brago, Evelyn Macairan, Helen Flores, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Elisa Osorio, Mayen Jaymalin, Marvin Sy