MANILA, Philippines – Despite questions constantly being raised by some of their colleagues, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and some senators are optimistic that a new president and vice president will be proclaimed as scheduled by June 15.
Enrile said the Joint Canvassing Committee of Congress (JCCC) is working double time to answer the questions raised by lawmakers regarding allegations of fraud in the May 10 elections.
At the moment, Enrile said the joint panel is still on schedule.
The JCCC has already started canvassing overseas absentee votes, which show president-apparent Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III with a substantial lead.
“That is why we are working until this hour, to finish the canvass because we want to have the proclamation not later than June 15,” Enrile said in an interview after last Friday’s canvassing at the House of Representatives.
He said the committee may be able to finish canvassing the manually transmitted certificates of canvass (COCs) by tomorrow or Tuesday, and will start immediately with the electronically transmitted COCs.
As regards questions raised by their colleagues, Enrile said canvassing of the electronically transmitted COCs may only be stopped if the complainants are able to present evidence that the COCs were tampered with.
“I am willing to entertain them but we will require them to state under oath the evidence. We will not just accept anybody who comes here who says ‘I was approached by this, I was approached by that, so and so told me about it.’ I am a lawyer, I have been trained in the courtroom,” he said.
Sen. Francis Escudero, co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Poll Automation, expressed hope that the canvassing will be finished by late next week.
Sen. Edgardo Angara lauded Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles for their patience in listening to all the issues being raised about alleged poll fraud.
He said it is important that the issues are threshed out to erase any cloud of doubt on the integrity of the elections.
Angara joined Enrile and Escudero in their belief that the canvassing will be finished by June 15, and a new president and vice president will be declared by then.
Palace: Let’s get on with it
Malacañang expressed confidence that the debates would not cause too much delay in the proclamation of the country’s next president and vice president.
Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar, in an interview over Radyo ng Bayan, said Enrile and Nograles appear to be conscious about the need to keep the canvassing process moving because of time constraints.
The Constitution states that the incumbent president should step down at noon of June 30 and so a new president should already be proclaimed by that time.
Olivar said the leadership of both chambers of Congress has issued their respective statement recognizing the importance of meeting the deadline.
“Senate President Enrile and I think even Speaker Nograles have stated that they are adopting some shortcuts to speed up the canvassing process,” Olivar said.
“So it is up to Congress, the lower House and the Senate, to be able to comply with the deadlines but based on the pronouncements, it seems to us that they are conscious about the deadlines and they are doing their best to meet the deadline,” he added.
Congress had canvassed a total of 131 COCs when it suspended the process last Friday night.
While Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), is doing its job of going over the COCs, a probe into the alleged irregularities in the May 10 elections is also being conducted by the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms.
The hearings would continue tomorrow and there has yet to be any indication as to when the probe would end.
The allegations of tampering of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines have prompted Enrile to call for the examination of the machines and the audit logs contained inside the compact flash cards.
A joint technical committee was proposed to perform this task so as to allow the canvassing to continue.
Adaza to sue diplomats
Meanwhile, former assemblyman Homobono Adaza insisted yesterday that the visits of US ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. and other diplomats to the private residence of Aquino are tantamount to proclaiming him as the duly elected president of the Philippines.
“Maybe the US ambassador thought that the Philippines is still a US colony,” he said.
Adaza said the result of the ongoing canvassing is still uncertain and that any proclamation by the NBOC can be legally challenged before the Supreme Court.
“What if there is a failure of election? What will these diplomats say?” he asked.
Adaza earlier vowed to file charges against Thomas and Ambassador Liu Jianchao of China before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly conspiring to “proclaim” Aquino as the duly elected president of the Philippines.
“I will file similar charges against other foreign diplomats who will visit Noynoy. They may invoke diplomatic immunity later,” Adaza said
He said the newly concluded elections were irregular and any proclamation would be illegal.
Adaza, however, insisted that since the NBOC has already convened, then it’s up to them to determine if the 2010 elections were conducted in accordance with the constitutional provision and with the automated election law.
Among the issues that would challenge the legality of the election is the lack of signatures in the statement of votes transmitted by the PCOS machines.
He said among the scenarios that might happen is the declaration of failure of elections and the remedy is to call for another election.
He said that if there is a proclamation of president and vice president after June 30 there will be no constitutional crisis because the Senate president will take over as interim head of government as provided for by the 1987 Constitution. - With Perseus Echeminada and Marvin Sy