EDITORIAL - Forget poll modernization

Chairman Alfredo Benipayo of the Commission on Elections assured the nation yesterday that the poll mo-dernization program will be in place by 2003, a year before the general elections, despite a substantial budget cut for the poll body. Of P15.1 billion proposed by the Comelec, the Department of Budget and Management has approved only about P2.7 billion for next year.

Inadequate funding, however, is just one of several problems besetting the Comelec. And there seems to be no solution to the biggest problem: feuding among two groups of Comelec officials. On one side are four commissioners appointed by deposed President Joseph Estrada: Luzviminda Tancangco, Mehol Sadain, Ralph Lantion and Rufino Javier. On the other are the appointees of President Arroyo: Benipayo and Commissioners Resurreccion Borra and Florentino Tuason.

From January to August this year, the Comelec failed to muster a quorum in 25 of 62 meetings. Tancangco had 37 absences; Sadain, 43; Lantion, 42; and Javier, 41. Tancangco, the most vocal of this group, told the Senate they did not bother attending the meetings since Benipayo could revoke resolutions approved by the entire bench.

At least in Congress, Estrada’s allies and other opposition members are careful not to be accused of obstructionism, lest they suffer a backlash in the next elections. Comelec commissioners, unfortunately for the public, enjoy a fixed term and can be ousted only through the tortuous process of impeachment. Unless they are planning to enter politics, Comelec commissioners need not worry about niceties such as national interest or being accused of obstructionism. They need not attend meetings where the entire Comelec bench is supposed to be present. They need not even be civil toward each other.

You wonder why these people continue receiving salaries courtesy of taxpayers. And you wonder if the Philippines will ever get past manual tallying of votes on chalk boards within this century. It was only four months ago that Filipinos voted in one of the most chaotic elections ever. Watching the antics at the Comelec, it’s almost a sure thing that the same chaos, probably worse, will characterize the general elections in 2004.