Celebrities tapped for poll info drive

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) urged show business and media personalities yesterday to help educate voters on the basics of the automated elections.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the poll body has been negotiating with the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas for networks to air voters’ education materials free of charge.

In exchange for airtime, the networks could avail of tax credits, he added.

Larrazabal said entertainment personalities identified with candidates are also welcome to help in the voter education campaign.

“We don’t promote any candidate,” he said. “What we want is to promote voters’ education.”

The Comelec is set to sign next week an agreement with the Philippine Information Agency to intensify voters’ education.

Namfrel to take part in polls

The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) is bent on taking part in the May 10 elections even if they have not been accredited by the Comelec.

At the Asian Institute of Management in Makati, Namfrel national chairman Jose Cuisia Jr. said they will ask the Comelec to reconsider the denial of accreditation to the poll watchdog.

“While we continue to work to get accredited to be able to do certain tasks that require Comelec approval, such as the proper conduct of a random manual audit as stipulated in Republic Act 9369, the Namfrel national council and volunteers also recognize the fact that there are activities that we could get involved in that do not require Comelec accreditation,” he said, Namfrel officials said their organization has always been non-partisan.

“Prior to 1986, Namfrel was an omnipresent election watchdog that looked into the whole election process, in the process laying the blueprint that has been emulated and has given birth to election monitoring organizations not just in Asia but around the world,” they said.

Cuisia said Namfrel, together with partners in the CBCP-NASSA (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace) has begun laying the groundwork for their involvement in the May 10 elections.

But it would be difficult for them to be an election watchdog without accreditation, he added.

Damaso Magbual, Namfrel spokesman, said the motion for reconsideration was intended to point out the flaws of the Comelec decision denying their application for accreditation.

“If you look at the decision (of the Comelec), the reason for denying was petty and trivial,” he said.

“We just pointed out the errors of the election commission. I hope they will accredit us. But am I confident? Of course not.

“I have the feeling that the Comelec wants a citizens’ arm that sees no evil, hears no evil, and says no evil and that cannot be Namfrel... But I am not referring to any group,” he clarified.

Magbual said Namfrel does not intend to supersede the role of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting as the Comelec’s citizen’s arm.

Namfrel just wants to work with them to ensure a clean and credible election, he added.

Cuisia also raised concern on the preparedness of the Comelec, its citizen partner and its subcontractor, Smartmatic/TIM, in conducting full automated elections.

“The litany of vulnerabilities, gaps and inadequacies goes on,” he said.

“Given all of these, we urge the Comelec to reconsider its plan for its implementation of full automated elections.”

Less than three months before the election, the poll body must initiate a contingency plan to shift to a partial automated and manual election, Namfrel said.

Comelec: DQs to remain in list

The names of disqualified candidates with pending motions for reconsideration will not be removed from the official ballots, the Comelec said yesterday.

James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman, said the votes for these candidates would be counted by the machines.

“It’s just that when the final decision (on the motion) comes, then we’ll have to decide if the votes will honored,” he said.

One of those disqualified but has a pending motion for reconsideration is Palawan Rep. Abraham Khalil Mitra, who is running for governor of the province. - With Rhodina Villanueva, Alexis Romero