Comelec suspends Manila ballot recount

MANILA, Philippines –  The Commission on Elections (Comelec) first division suspended yesterday a recount of ballots, set on Monday, that are the subjects of an electoral protest filed by defeated Manila mayoral candidate Lito Atienza.

First division Commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Armando Velasco said all of the Comelec’s commissioners should decide on Atienza’s petition that the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the May 2010 polls should not be used in the recount.

Atienza’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said the Comelec should conduct a manual or physical count of the ballots, instead of using the PCOS machines because he doubts their accuracy.

The commissioners said only the Comelec as a whole should decide the issues raised on the application of PCOS machines and the physical recount because they “pertain not only to the sound discretion and judgment of this division but to the policy of the commission as a whole.”

Sarmiento and Velasco also took note of Atienza’s petition questioning the Comelec’s move to charge the rental of PCOS machines and iButton printer, the cost of the compact flash cards and the hiring of the information technology personnel against the deposits paid by Atienza in August 2010.

Macalintal said the Comelec “is not authorized to charge any such expenses against us when it is the integrity of these machines that are in question.”

Atienza is questioning the proclamation of Alfredo Lim as Manila mayor by seeking the recount of the votes from all of the 1,441 clustered precincts in the city.