YEARENDER: New Comelec eyes reform, redemption

MANILA, Philippines - Changes in leadership marked the beginning of 2011 for the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Early in the year, 72-year-old Sixto Brillantes assumed the chairmanship of the Comelec, replacing Jose Melo who resigned on Jan. 15 to give President Aquino a free hand in choosing his successor. Melo was an appointee of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

But Brillantes was held back by delays in the confirmation of his appointment by the Commission on Appointments. His appointment was opposed mainly by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who questioned his credibility and neutrality in deciding on cases, citing Brillantes’ background as election lawyer. He was confirmed only in October.

This year was also witness to other major changes in the leadership of Comelec with the retirement of commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer and Gregorio Larrazabal on Feb. 2.

Larrazabal was replaced by Christian Robert Lim, who had worked in the legal team of the Aquino-Roxas Bantay Balota in the May 2010 presidential polls and as private prosecutor in the plunder case against former President Joseph Estrada.

Ferrer, on the other hand, was replaced by Augusto Lagman, an expert in information technology and a volunteer for the National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel). As the head of the group’s Systems Committee, he supervised the implementation of its Operation Quick Count in 10 national elections from 1984 to 2007.

The others in the top seven Comelec posts are Commissioners Lucenito Tagle, Rene Sarmiento, Armando Velasco and Elias Yusoph.

 Manila recount

The electoral protest concerning the mayoralty race in Manila may become a landmark case for the country’s first automated polls in May 2010.

Former Manila mayor Lito Atienza questioned the proclamation of his rival, Alfredo Lim, citing irregularities in the election as well as deficiency in the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used by the Comelec.

Atienza sought the revision of some 1,221 contested ballots in Manila. But last September, the First Division of the Comelec junked his petition, saying that in 77 of the 200 clustered precincts, “the physical count does not tally with the results as per the respective election returns or statement of votes.”

The division ruled that the difference was “very minimal” and could be caused by “dissimilarities in human perception during the recount process and less to the count made by the PCOS machines themselves.”

As a policy, the Comelec initially revised 20 percent of the total ballots being questioned by a petitioner. If the poll body finds the petition meritorious, then it will recount all the contested ballots.

Atienza later filed an appeal before the Comelec, believing that there were valid and legal grounds to recount the remaining 874,700 unrevised ballots. Whatever ruling the agency issues is likely to set a precedent in future electoral protest cases.

Redeeming image

Still reeling from accusations of rigging elections and entering into anomalous transactions, the Comelec came up with a five-year plan to modernize, reform and redeem the integrity of the agency under the Aquino administration.

Dubbed Comelec Strategic Plan 2011-2016 or Comstrat, the program is anchored on nine guiding principles – independence, integrity, accountability, transparency, impartiality, professionalism, efficiency, service orientation and rule of law.

Comstrat is a product of discussions among Comelec officials, directors, regional directors, election supervisors and election officers across the country this year.

Part of the plan is to harmonize all election laws, rules and regulations through the passage of a new Omnibus Election Code to make them responsive to the automation of the country’s electoral processes. The Code was passed in December 1985 or more than two decades before the poll automation.

Also as part of efforts to cleanse the Comelec, Brillantes ordered a review of the poll body’s financial records, leading to the discovery of some P125 million in unliquidated cash advances by official and employees over the past five years.

The Comelec also found several cases of absenteeism, falsification of checks and unverified overtime. Administrative and criminal charges have already been filed against some of those involved.

 Joint panel

Perhaps the Comelec’s most daunting task in 2011 is investigating – together with the Department of Justice (DOJ) – the alleged systematic cheating in the 2004 and 2007 polls.

Many witnesses have surfaced to attest to cheating in the two elections primarily in Maguindanao, South Cotabato and North Cotabato. It was the Arroyo administration, with the help of then elections chief Benjamin Abalos, which allegedly masterminded the poll fraud. In the 2007 elections, for instance, Arroyo’s senatorial candidates won by landslide in Maguindanao.

Among the witnesses are former election supervisors Lintang Bedol, Lilian Radam and Yogie Martirizar; former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas as well as several military men and some 15 election officers and election assistants in Mindanao.

The results of the investigation by the joint Comelec-DOJ panel were used as basis for the poll body’s filing of electoral sabotage charges against Arroyo, Bedol and former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. last Nov.18. The filing of the case led to the arrest of Arroyo and Abalos. But the panel did not recommend the indictment of former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo for lack of evidence.