Makati dad airs support for clean, honest polls

MANILA, Philippines - A Makati city official said they are supporting efforts by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure clean and honest elections in 2010 to prevent a repeat of a vote-padding attempt in the 2007 polls.

“We have always supported the actions taken by the Comelec to ensure fair and honest elections. We do not want a repeat of the incident during the 2007 election when vigilant poll watchers and the national media foiled an attempt to pad the votes in favor of a Lakas-Kampi candidate for councilor,” Councilor Kid Pena, president of the Liga ng mga Barangay, said.

Television crews caught an alleged attempt to shave votes from a councilor aligned with the PDP-Laban ticket of Mayor Jejomar Binay and transfer it to the Lakas candidate.

“It was an alarming incident, and illustrates the importance of vigilance during elections,” Pena said.

He also said the claims made by the Knights of Columbus St. John of the Cross-Makati Chapter regarding unqualified voters were grossly exaggerated.

In a letter to the Comelec, the group said there are at least 4,000 names listed in the registry of voters in Makati who are now residents of Southville 1 in Cabuyao and Calauan in Laguna.

Pena said while indeed the relocated residents are still registered in Makati, it is only for a limited period, based on an agreement with the residents themselves. It is not the first time that such arrangement has happened, citing other localities that have transferred informal settlers but retained their benefits from the local government.

“From the onset, these families agreed to be relocated and the city government will still extend to them the benefits they enjoyed as residents while they adjust to their new location,” he said.

“It seems that there are some groups who are out to exaggerate facts, when the truth is that these families who were informal settlers in Makati need to be given assistance,” Pena added.

– Rhodina Villanueva, Jose Rodel Clapano